About the MHC Gallery

MHC Gallery Vision

The MHC Gallery was founded as a fulltime gallery under Mennonite Church Canada in 1998 with two primary goals.

One, to offer artists who identified as Mennonite/Anabaptist, regardless of ethnic background, and/or with roots in Mennonite communities, opportunities to exhibit their art in an institution of the church, thereby, indicating to them that a community and church that previously had not typically respected or promoted those in the visual arts is changing and, here, now, is an institution of the church that says artists are God gifted, respected and supported.  

Two, while being an Anabaptist Christian institution, the gallery would be open to artists of all faith and spiritual traditions, offering them a place where they can exhibit their art freely and without interference or agenda from the gallery.

Within both of those goals, the gallery would also promote exhibitions dealing with themes and issues of social importance to the wider community and international exhibitions, especially from the Global South. The gallery would be a space where artists and communities, with goodwill towards others, could get to know and inform others in a spirit of respect, understanding and acceptance.

The gallery would also be open to hosting artists, young and old, student, amateur, professional, established and new, from any background, including having no faith affiliation or belief, within the mix of its programming.

In 2017 ownership of the gallery was transferred from Mennonite Church Canada to Canadian Mennonite University.

Mission Statement

The MHC Gallery is a gallery of Canadian Mennonite University, rooted in the Anabaptist faith tradition. While rooted in a Christian tradition, the gallery is open to all artists and communities, regardless of ethnic or faith background, representing the spirituality and traditions of the earliest peoples of this land to the faiths and cultures of the most recently arrived immigrants and refugees. Artists are invited to display their art including, if they so wish, artworks inspired by, based in, their faith/beliefs/spirituality/culture. The gallery is a space where all are invited through artistic expression to get to know one another, respect, understand and accept each other.

The gallery also hosts exhibitions, sometimes including international exhibitions, on themes of importance to the wider community. Art and exhibitions are not required to be about faith and/or culture or feature artists who follow a faith. The gallery invites artists young and old, student, amateur and professional, to exhibit in the gallery. As Hindu artist and gallery friend Manju Lodha likes to say, “We can all teach. We can all learn.”

The gallery promotes trust, respect, understanding and acceptance, even though people may have fundamental differences in beliefs. The gallery believes that our increasing diversity, including faith diversity, is to be embraced and celebrated, in a spirit of goodwill by all towards each other.

Showing at the MHC Gallery

The MHC Gallery accepts artist submissions year round.

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

• Preliminary Concept in ~500 words: briefly outline your preliminary ideas and plans for the exhibition. (This can transform as your creative process unfolds.)
• Bio/Statement of Artistic Activities. Digital Images – up to 10 examples of work. Please include an image list that cites the name of the work, year created, medium and a brief description. JPGs or PDFs are preferred, sized at approximately 1MB.
• Contact Information.
• Deadline to apply for a season is generally April of the previous year.  All applicants will be notified of the following year's schedule in July.

*The Gallery receives more applications than available spots and as such, your application does not guarantee an exhibition.

Please note that 2024 is fully scheduled and we are scheduling into the 2025 season.

The MHC Gallery Story

The first 20 years - watch now. 

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