Art galleries in Parksville
Galleries are best taken slowly. Parksville, BC has 13 mapped right now. That's 13 galleries mapped around Parksville. The exhibition schedule matters more than the count: a small gallery with a great current show beats a big one between exhibitions. Opening nights are the cheat code — free entry, the artists in the room, and a crowd that actually wants to talk about the work.
This guide covers every art gallery we could verify in and around Parksville (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Nanaimo Art Gallery and Artisans' Studio, plus Free Spirit Studio Gallery & Shop. If a gallery's missing from Parksville's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet.
The Parksville gallery lineup
13 mapped within about 40 km:
Nanaimo Art Gallery
Art gallery
Nanaimo Art Gallery — Art gallery, found on 150 Commercial Street in Nanaimo. Also worth knowing about Nanaimo Art Gallery: the map lists its hours as Mo closed, Tu-Sa 10:00-17:00, Su 12:00-17:00.
150 Commercial Street, Nanaimo, V9R 5G6
Hours: Mo closed, Tu-Sa 10:00-17:00, Su 12:00-17:00
Artisans' Studio
Art gallery
Artisans' Studio is Art gallery on 70 Bastion Street. Artisans' Studio also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Tu-Sa 11:00-16:00; Dec 25-Jan 07 off; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip.
70 Bastion Street, V9R 3A1
Hours: Tu-Sa 11:00-16:00; Dec 25-Jan 07 off
Phone: +1 250 753 6151
Free Spirit Studio Gallery & Shop
Art galleryRun by Free Spirit Gallery Studio & Shop
Free Spirit Studio Gallery & Shop is Art gallery run by Free Spirit Gallery Studio & Shop on 590 North Road, Gabriola. Free Spirit Studio Gallery & Shop also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Tu-Sa 10:00-16:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
590 North Road, Gabriola, V0R 1X3
Hours: Tu-Sa 10:00-16:00
Phone: +1 250-247-0197
Nightmare Oasis
Art gallery
Nightmare Oasis — Art gallery on 45 Victoria Crescent. Also worth knowing about Nightmare Oasis: the map lists its hours as Tu-Sa 12:00-17:00; it has a website with more detail.
45 Victoria Crescent
Hours: Tu-Sa 12:00-17:00
Stone Cottage Gallery
Art gallery
Stone Cottage Gallery is Art gallery on 306 Fern Road East. Stone Cottage Gallery also notes on the map: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
306 Fern Road East
Phone: +1 250 954-9984
Canadian Indigenous Art
Art gallery
Canadian Indigenous Art — Art gallery. Also worth knowing about Canadian Indigenous Art: a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
Phone: +1 250 591-4767
Nanaimo Ceramic Arts Studio & Gallery
Art gallery
Nanaimo Ceramic Arts Studio & Gallery is Art gallery on 115 Chapel Street. Nanaimo Ceramic Arts Studio & Gallery also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as Tu-Sa 11:00-17:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
115 Chapel Street
Hours: Tu-Sa 11:00-17:00
Phone: +1 250 754-8377
Yellow Bird Arts Gallery
Art gallery
Yellow Bird Arts Gallery — Art gallery. Also worth knowing about Yellow Bird Arts Gallery: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 10:00-18:00; Su 11:00-17:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
Hours: Mo-Sa 10:00-18:00; Su 11:00-17:00
Phone: +1 250 758-2480
Rollin Art Centre
Art gallery
Rollin Art Centre — Art gallery on 3061 8th Avenue.
3061 8th Avenue, V9Y 2K5
Cheeky Monkey Glassworks
Art gallery
Cheeky Monkey Glassworks is Art gallery on 427 Terminal Avenue North. Cheeky Monkey Glassworks also notes on the map: the map lists its hours as We-Fr 09:00-17:00, Sa 10:00-16:00; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
427 Terminal Avenue North
Hours: We-Fr 09:00-17:00, Sa 10:00-16:00
Phone: +1 250 754-5254
Hornby Creative
Art gallery
Hornby Creative — Art gallery, found on 5875 Central Road in Hornby Island. Also worth knowing about Hornby Creative: the map lists its hours as 10:00-16:00.
5875 Central Road, Hornby Island, V0R 1Z0
Hours: 10:00-16:00
Oceanside Art Gallery
Art gallery
Oceanside Art Gallery — Art gallery on 152 Second Avenue West. Also worth knowing about Oceanside Art Gallery: the map lists its hours as Mo-Sa 11:00-16:00, PH off; a phone number is listed — worth a call before a special trip; it has a website with more detail.
152 Second Avenue West
Hours: Mo-Sa 11:00-16:00, PH off
Phone: +1 250 594-3344
Marlow Veale Gallery
Art gallery
Marlow Veale Gallery — Art gallery on 5430 West Island Highway.
5430 West Island Highway
What the map tells us about art galleries in Parksville
9 of the 13 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — galleries keep proper public hours, so plan around the listed times.
8 have websites listed. That's where the current exhibition is announced — the one thing worth checking before you visit.
Most of the art galleries in Parksville list a phone number. Handy for confirming opening times around exhibition changeovers.
8 galleries list websites — that's where the current exhibition is announced, and it's the one thing worth checking before you visit.
The Parksville gallery walk
The efficient Parksville gallery walk strings these together: Nanaimo Art Gallery on 150 Commercial Street, Artisans' Studio on 70 Bastion Street, Free Spirit Studio Gallery & Shop on 590 North Road, Nightmare Oasis on 45 Victoria Crescent, Stone Cottage Gallery on 306 Fern Road East, Canadian Indigenous Art, Nanaimo Ceramic Arts Studio & Gallery on 115 Chapel Street, and Yellow Bird Arts Gallery — 13 stops, one logical order. 5 more are listed below.
Gallery tips for Parksville
A few things worth knowing before you work through Parksville's art galleries:
- Check the exhibition schedule first at Nanaimo Art Gallery. A gallery is only as good as its current show. Two minutes on the website saves a wasted trip between exhibitions.
- Check for artist talks at Artisans' Studio. Talks, walkthroughs and panel discussions are often free and turn a good show into a great evening.
- Buy local art if you can. An original from a local artist costs less than you think and means more than any print. Start with works on paper.
- Take the long way through. Galleries reward slow looking. One extra lap always reveals something the first pass missed.
Good to know
We searched about 40 km around Parksville — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new art gallery in Parksville can take a while to appear. The 13 above are only as current as the community map. A art gallery that's shut, or a new one nobody's added yet, gets fixed with a single OpenStreetMap edit.
We don't review exhibitions — shows change too fast. What we list is the where: real galleries, verified by real mappers.
If you run one of the 13 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.
Art gallery listings for Parksville: 13 mapped from OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Photos from Wikimedia Commons contributors; individual photo credits appear in captions. Listing data was last refreshed automatically — verify hours before visiting.