JANUARY 3, 2025
Submissions open
May 31, 2025
Submissions close
Week of July 14, 2025
Finalists Announced
September 27, 2025
Exhibition and voting opens
October 17, 2025
Voting closes
October 18, 2025
Winners announced
The Parallel Art Show (PAS) is a juried competition of Southern Gulf Islands artists that runs concurrently with SSNAP. Artists from the Southern Gulf Islands who submit to SSNAP are automatically eligible for PAS. The Parallel Art Show jury selects approximately 50 finalists from which the PAS winners are chosen. PAS winners are announced at the SSNAP Gala Awards Night.
Chosen by the Jurors Sponsored by Windsor Plywood Salt Spring
1st prize — $2,000 Donated by Michael Whitfield 2nd prize — $1,500 Sponsored by Country Grocer 3rd prize — $1,000 Sponsored by Country Grocer
To be eligible, an artist must have submitted to SSNAP, met the SSNAP entry requirements, and reside primarily on one of the Southern Gulf Islands:
An artwork accepted into SSNAP is not eligible for the Parallel Art Show.
There is no additional submission fee for the Parallel Art Show.
2025/26
Steven McNeil is Chief Curator and Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Greater of Greater Victoria. His recent exhibitions include Heart of the House: Art and West Coast Modern Home (2023); In the Flesh: the Nude in Art, Past and Present (2023) and A View From Here: Reimagining the AGGV Collections (2024). Prior to joining the AGGV, McNeil previously held curatorial positions at the University of Toronto, the National Capital Commission and the National Gallery of Canada and worked on a number of nationally touring exhibitions focused on historical Canadian art including, Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon (co-organized by the National Gallery of Canada and the Vancouver Art Gallery) and Maritime Art: Canada’s First Art Magazine. He has served on a number of juries and advisory committees and most recently was selected by the Getty Foundation Paper Project as the only Canadian curator to participate in The Curating Prints Seminar held in London (UK) in 2024.
Kim Pollard picked up a paint brush in the 1970s and has followed her passions ever since, gaining a wealth of knowledge and experience through her work as an artist, consultant, certified framer, curator, gallerist, and mentor to many. In 2023, Kim Pollard opened a contemporary art gallery at Hope Bay on Pender Island where she engages in her own painting practice. Simultaneously, she uses this space to curate and exhibit BC artists who work in various mediums – from ceramics, wood, glass, metal, paper, and fibre to painting and photography.
After a thirty-year career in the not-for-profit sector, Alexandra relocated to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.
Alexandra is a collaborative strategic thinker and change agent. As Director and CEO of Vancouver’s Bill Reid Gallery, she worked with Indigenous and community leaders to develop the expanded programming vision, and create the infrastructure required for operational resilience. As Executive Director of Toronto’s Gardiner Museum, she worked with the Board and other stakeholders to broaden the collections mandate and transform the Museum’s facilities in order to diversity revenues.
As a consultant, Alexandra worked with numerous organizations to develop strategic plans and build fundraising capacity. Current Board positions include the Siminovitch Theatre Foundation, The Salt Spring Island Library Foundation Society and SSI Farmland Trust.
PAS 2021/22 included 143 submissions from Southern Gulf Islands artists. View our 51 finalists and winners.