Oshawa’s current Art and Culture in the Hall exhibitions bring the work of five local artists to the space outside City Council chambers, with displays continuing until Monday, February 1, 2027.
The City identifies the participating artists as Samantha Kelly, Margaret Rodgers, Leila Farsi, Charlotte Hill and Lionel Furs. Their work was selected through a municipal Call for Artists.
The exhibition space is at Oshawa City Hall, 50 Centre Street South. The City describes Art and Culture in the Hall as a programme celebrating local artistic and creative talent, with exhibitions refreshed during the year to showcase artists, cultural organizations and groups from Durham Region.
Family history and memory
Kelly, a Courtice resident who previously lived in Oshawa, works in photography and painting. The City’s profile says her family’s connection with Oshawa dates to her grandparents’ immigration from Malta in 1962.
Her work explores family heritage, grief, emotion and memory. The exhibition statement describes a project reflecting on her grandparents’ move, the opportunities it created for later generations and the care passed between family members.
Hands and flowers carry some of that meaning in the work, linking family relationships with the sacrifices involved in immigration. The City also notes Kelly’s completion of a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art at the University of Guelph.
Different approaches to image-making
Rodgers is an Oshawa-based artist, writer and curator whose practice includes painting, drawing and photo-based work, particularly solar printing. Her exhibition statement describes pieces combining paint with found and recycled material, including fragments of silt cloth, printed matter and packing webbing.
Her background includes founding The IRIS Group, teaching at Durham and Centennial colleges and serving as director and curator at VAC Clarington. The City’s profile also identifies her book about Oshawa artist Alexandra Luke and her April 2026 publication, Maple Park Memoirs.
Farsi brings more than 20 years of Persian calligraphy experience. According to the municipal profile, she combines traditional script with contemporary visual expression in compositions exploring emotion, memory and human connection.
Her work has been supported by the Ontario Arts Council and exhibited across Ontario, including at Station Gallery. The City also describes her teaching through workshops and community programmes. Her qualifications include mastery-level Nastaliq certification from the Iranian Calligraphers Association, according to the same municipal profile.
Connections to a changing city
Hill, who was born and raised in Oshawa, works in acrylic and oil. Her artist statement reflects on a city growing outward into former fields and on the smaller experiences of childhood that give a place meaning.
Those memories include neighbourhood play, library craft events, Arts Resource Centre camps and school art shows. Her stated approach uses warm golden tones to evoke how such moments felt, rather than attempting exact documentary representations.
Furs has lived and worked in Oshawa since moving to the city in 1959, according to the exhibition listing.
Source
City of Oshawa: current exhibitions and artist profiles.
Featured image: original conceptual editorial illustration. It does not reproduce the participating artists’ work or depict the actual exhibition space.
