Olga Szkabarnicki Art

11/30/2025

Please take a look at the 2 photos.

Note the children’s playground, the residential building, the exploded unit mid-way down the building. The shattered windows, the soot.

This picture was taken by a Ukrainian jewelry maker I follow on Instagram, from her own apartment window.

Please read her text describing what led to the picture.

Try to imagine what it must be like to live with daily air raid sirens screaming all night long, and with random explosions happening in your own living complex. Think about what your ability to function in the daytime would be like, your cognitive abilities, your spirit. Add to this, regular power outages and no heat in the cold winter.

These are not military targets. This is the deliberate targeting of civilians in order to break both body and spirit. This is the ongoing terrorism that Russia rains down on Ukraine.

I’m posting this because it’s important to know that this continues to go on, every day. It’s real.

07/11/2025

Through the donation box and a generous etransfer from an American friend (you know who you are!❤️), $370 raised so far for medical kits to be sent to the front in Ukraine.

Each NATO-grade medical field kit costs approximately $100 to put together. Of particular importance are the tourniquets they contain.

Together we can help stop the bleeding. C’mon out to the show, contemplate the art, and drop a few dollars in the box. Any amount is appreciated! And please DM me if you’re far away and would like to contribute, too.

The Show Must Go On runs from July 4-23 at Salt Spring Gallery.

06/22/2025

Invitation to upcoming exhibition on beautiful Salt Spring Island:

“The Show Must Go On”

In early February 2014, my daughter and I attended the National Ballet of Ukraine’s masterful performance of La Bayadère in Montreal. At that time, the Revolution of Dignity, or Euromaidan, was playing out in Kyiv’s Independence Square, near the National Opera where these young artists were based. The uprising was fuelled by well-educated young people who wanted change. At its peak, 400,000 - 800,000 protesters filled the Square, broadly demanding basic human rights, closer ties to Europe and an end to government corruption and Russian influence. Almost 100 protesters and 13 police died before disgraced politicians fled and the police withdrew on February 21.

Surely, during their curtain call, the dancers were thinking of their compatriots, family members, friends and teachers taking part in the uprising in Kyiv. But surely they were also thinking something else: the show must go on. It is what we do. It is who we are.

This show is my testament to the resilience of the human spirit through art. It features monumental, dance-inspired figurative work on Mylar arising from meditations on the Euromaidan and current events, including the tragedy of Mariupol, infused with my personal experience with recurrent breast cancer in 2024. Smaller portraits and expressive figurative pieces, as well as paintings based on life drawing sessions with the Salt Spring Island Painters Guild, are companions of the more edgy pieces in the show.

The making and beholding of art can be an act of hope, courage, or resistance. It is my sincere hope that you will feel the vitality of the pieces and reflect on human resilience expressed through art - both in the act of making, and of beholding.

We do what we can. The show must go on.

04/30/2024

❤️❤️🤩❤️❤️

Opening reception this Saturday, 2-7pm

12/16/2023

So excited about this: heavy Mabef easel that cranks to a maximum height of 153”, with a max 92” stretched canvas. No more kneeling!

Large figurative paintings, here I come.

12/04/2023

Still riding on a high from last night’s charity Tribute to Ukraine concert, which I MC’ed. I had the great honour of introducing world-class dancers, singers, musicians and artists to the stage. Thank you to everyone who donated their talent and time, and to all those who attended to

10/01/2023

Taking in the Feast show at the Salt Spring Gallery.

Glad to be part of such a vibrant arts community here on Salt Spring Island!

09/28/2023

Group show opening reception tomorrow 5-7pm.

Just finished helping hang it, and it looks awesome! A diverse group of works that work beautifully together.

Excited!

Next show coming soon at the SS Gallery: FEAST

Opening Reception Sept 29, 5-7
Fall Member's exhibit
September 29- Oct 18

Part of being a dedicated artist is the pull towards expansion within the bounds of the medium and the ongoing desire to stretch the envelope. Feast is an exhibit that shares the abundance of conscious and subconscious material the members of Salt Spring Gallery are presently engaged with.

Work by Carol Newmeyer, Gillian McConnell, Shannon Wardroper, Amy Melious, Cheryl Long, Olga Szkabarnicki and Nathalie St-Amant.

09/02/2023

Enchantment. What is it? Is there a big bad wolf hiding in your deep dark wood? Does a rusalka lurk beneath the surface of your lake? Do the trees whisper as you brush past? How does your concept of enchantment differ from your child’s? …. or from that of your parent?

Through paintings and lens-based performance art, Olga Szkabarnicki and Sage Szkabarnicki-Stuart present their own unique visions of enchantment.

Come ponder threads of contrast and commonality in artistic approach and across generations, and become Enchanted.

Opening reception September 8, 5-7pm

Salt Spring Gallery of Fine Art, Salt Spring Island

07/29/2023

More joyous fabulousness for today’s Pride festivities here on beautiful Salt Spring Island.

Inspired by the breathtaking as photographed by . I had the great good fortune to see Sean perform here when he came as part of a production at

We have such a vibrant arts community here on the island. *Feeling blessed*

And fabulous.

And those boots…..❤️

07/27/2023

Haven’t posted here for a while, but that doesn’t mean I’ve not been active.

Here’s an oil painting in honour of Pride, which is being celebrated here on beautiful Salt Spring Island this weekend. It’s called Masks, and it’s about identities and the seen & unseen and hot pinkness (which is a state of being. Truth.). And black leather boots.

Oh god how I love shiny black leather boots.

Coming soon to Salt Spring Gallery of Fine Art.