About Us
About Gallery Merrick
Supporting creativity means fostering growth. At Gallery Merrick, we help artists live their authentic selves, nurturing talent through personal encouragement. The gallery showcases exciting work by established practitioners as well as new talents from across Canada.
Gallery Merrick promises unexpected encounters with fine art. Pass through our doors, and you’ll feel acknowledged, informed, inspired. The design of our space blends historic warmth with contemporary chic, just as our hand-selected collection features a bold mix of mediums and styles. Different rooms within the gallery offer unpredictable shifts in perspective, creating a delightfully dynamic viewing experience.
Our Artists
Gallery Merrick is committed to representing a diverse range of living Canadian artists: working artists who make their livings and support their families with their art. Many of our artists are local to Vancouver Island and the surrounding Islands, but we also feature talent from across the country.
We conduct an annual review of artist submissions every January, and welcome emerging and established artists to review our submission guidelines and apply at that time.
Image by Dirk Heydemann
About Joe
Currently, I hand-curate one of the larger commercial gallery spaces on Vancouver Island, in beautiful British Columbia. Gallery Merrick relocated to the city of Victoria in 2022, and we deeply appreciate the city’s generous welcome and support of the arts. This evolving collection aspires to top-tier status in Canada’s commercial gallery scene.
My creative career began in the theatre world, where I trained and performed as an actor. That foundational experience informs my ongoing work as a gallerist. I see visual-art curation as a performance. Art galleries are about movements, not walls. Acting comes from interactivity, from community. Likewise, dedicated gallerists must nurture strong relationships: with their creators, their collectors, and their peers.
Looking back, I recall that I first entered the artworld as a buyer—shortly after relocating from Edmonton to Bangkok at age 19. During that pivotal year, I purchased a dozen creations by a street artist named Peach. Each of these depicts a Drag Queen in riveting neon-and-pastel motifs. Peach’s wild portraits remain prized possessions. They once guided me into becoming a no-longer-quite-so-confused gay man with artistic sensitivities. And my purchases supported Peach in his material and personal struggles as well, making our exchanges reciprocal and mutually affirming. Still to this day, connecting collectors with creators thrills me. That pursuit has become my life’s mission and my joy.
Joe offers artist mentoring sessions, which you can learn more about here.
Private Viewings
We are happy to arrange private viewings in the gallery. Owner & curator Joe can provide a guided tour and behind-the-scenes look at each artist or body of work. If there are pieces you are interested in viewing in person, please contact us to inquire about availability for private viewings.
Shipping Information
All art is shipped from Canada and the cost of shipping varies depending on destination and the size of the work, there are no free shipping options. When you buy online the price to ship will be calculated on the shopping cart page. At this time shipping is only available to the US and Canada.