Fourteen works from the SFU Art Collection on display at SFU Gallery, Burnaby, as part of Samuel Roy-Bois exhibition Not a new world, just an old trick. Installation view, SFU Gallery, 2013. Photo: Blaine Campbell.
About the SFU Art Collection
The Simon Fraser University Art Collection has grown from its inception in the late 1960s to include more than 5,600 works of art in 2021. The first works in the collection were two tile mosaics by Vancouver artist Gordon Smith (1965), which are permanently installed in the Academic Quadrangle. The collection is diverse and is an important repository for modern and contemporary works of art regionally and nationally. Approximately 1,000 works of art are shown on SFU campuses in public locations year round. The gallery’s collection is an invaluable resource for study and exhibition.
Jack Shadbolt Collection
Jack Shadbolt is one of Canada’s most important artists. His work is held in the collections of major public galleries across Canada, as well as in private and corporate collections. Shadbolt is best known for his paintings and murals which reflect his travels and experiences including his childhood in British Columbia, his studies in London, Paris and New York, and his work as a war artist during World War II. Shadbolt’s work was influenced by the natural world, including the cycles of life and death, growth, decay and destruction; ideas of metamorphosis and transformation; fetishes and homages; as well as First Nations themes and motifs. Shadbolt received the Order of Canada in 1972.
Until our new Collections Manager begins work, all copyright requests should be directed to Russell Gordon, Communications and Access Manager, SFU Galleries at 778.782.4266 or russell_gordon@sfu.ca.
SFU Bill Reid Collection
The Bill Reid Gallery is home to the Simon Fraser University Bill Reid Collection. In 2011, the Bill Reid Foundation gifted its entire collection of Northwest Coast art to SFU. The collection currently consists of 161 works, in a variety of media from jewelry to prints and sculptures, and includes 118 works by Bill Reid. Visit the Bill Reid Gallery website for more information.
The Salish Weave Collection of George and Christiane Smyth
Based in Lekwungen territory, George and Christiane Smyth have been solely collecting Coast Salish works of art since 2003. Considering themselves “activist collectors,” they have built their collection with the intention of promoting awareness of Coast Salish ar-tistic practices and providing direct support to both established and emergent artists through purchases and special commissions.
Since 2010 the Smyths have donated several important works to the SFU Art Collec-tion. This most recent donation includes the gift of 136 individual paintings, drawings, three-dimensional objects and serigraphs by sixteen Coast Salish artists. These works bring significant contextual value to the SFU Art Collection, particularly given its regional focus, by addressing Simon Fraser University’s responsibility to the Host Nations — xwməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, səlilw̓ ətaʔɬ kwikwəƛəm, Q'éyts'i, Kwantlen, and Semi-ahmoo — on whose territories the campuses sit. The donation includes a number of works by intergenerational members of the same family (Chris, COSINIYE, Liam and Sage Paul; Susan Point, Thomas Cannell, and Kelly Cannell; John and Angela Mars-ton), thereby allowing the Collection to better demonstrate artistic commitments, stylistic continuities and developments within Coast Salish families over time, and to demon-strate the strength of Coast Salish artistic lineage.
SFU Galleries' Art Collection Policies
SFU Galleries Acquisitions Policy for the SFU Art Collection
Acquisitions and Deaccessioning Procedures
Public Art
A number of works from the SFU Art Collection are permanently installed at the SFU Burnaby campus. Download the public art guide for more information.