Ladysmith, British Columbia
HB BarryStrasbourg-Thompson
“A continuing practice of art, inquiry and Childlike Awe.”
Fine Artist & Art InstructorVancouver Island, Canada
01Artist statement
Art as a way of arriving home.
HB Barry Strasbourg-Thompson is a Canadian fine artist and long-time art instructor on Vancouver Island. He moves between painting, drawing, print and photography, building translucent, heavily worked surfaces from pigment, gel, gold leaf and whatever the studio offers up that day.
The present direction of the work is Circling Home, an inquiry into colour, material and consciousness. Within it, Homeless2Home treats HOME as experiential knowledge, drawing from Thich Nhat Hanh's “I have arrived, I am home.”
Klee, Kandinsky, Frère Jérôme Paradis, Thich Nhat Hanh and Jung are never far from the table. Each day's artwork acts as a visual journal, informed by the previous 24 hours.
Selected work
02Selected work
Six recent pieces from the studio. Each one opens its full catalogue record.
I AM A CHILD OF THE UNIVERSE
H7911032026 · 2026 · Acrylic & Gold Leaf on canvas · 24 × 24 × 2 in
Homeless to Home
H7705112023 · c. 2026 · Acrylic, Glass Bead Gel, W/N artist pigment black Fineliner pens on canvas · 60 × 48 × 2 in
Circling Home: Homeless to Home
H7809082024 · 2024 · Acrylic, Acrylic Glass Bead medium, 22K Gold Leaf, Graphite on canvas · 48 × 36 × 2 in
Thompson Family Homestead, Cantley, Quebec
H7613022023 · 2023 · Acrylic, irredescent & interference mediums on canvas · 18 × 24 × 2 in
Homeless2Home
H7815082024 · c. 2024 · Acrylic, 22K Gold Leaf, Powdered Irridescent Pigment on canvas · 48 × 48 × 2 in
CIRCLING HOME
H7905082025 · 2025 · Acrylic, Powdered Artist pigment, W/N FinelinerBlack pen, 2 leaves on canvas · 10 × 8 × 1 in
03Visual language
CirclingHome
A continuing exploration of home, consciousness and the authentic self, worked out in layered paint, gold leaf and Celtic and medieval mark-making.
04Art instruction
Learn to see. Learn to make. Stay curious.
Barry has taught fine art since 1980, in Ottawa hospital and community art departments, for the Ladysmith and Nanaimo arts councils, and as a summer instructor at MISSA. He now teaches from his own studio in Ladysmith. All experience levels are welcome.
- Studio classes
- Wednesdays, 1–4 PM. Three in-studio classes a month, plus at-home assignments.
- Studio fee
- C$100 per month. Materials and tools are supplied for new students for the first two classes.
- Outdoor class
- Monthly, usually a Saturday or Sunday, weather permitting. Transportation in Barry's vehicle. Maximum four students.
- Outdoor fee
- C$150
- Studio
- 721 First Avenue, Ladysmith, BC
- Trained at
- BFA, University of Ottawa · OCAD University
Current exhibitions
05Current exhibitions
Where the work can be seen now and in the coming weeks.
New Works
Group show · Gallery artists
Rainforest Gallery
Oct 1–Dec 23, 2026
Works in Progress
By appointment
Strasbourg-Thompson Studio
Ongoing
Clear Light
Group show & collected works · Curator's choice by invitation
Ladysmith Museum Gallery
Nov 7–28, 2026
Winter Light and Wisdom Tales
Group exhibition · Curator's choice from artist submissions
Ladysmith Museum Gallery
Dec 3–24, 2026
The archive
06The archive
The wider body of work is catalogued through Artwork Archive. Each piece is recorded with its media, dimensions, dates and whereabouts as the practice keeps moving.
- 398
- works documented
- Decades
- of artistic practice
- One
- evolving archive
- Painting
- Drawing
- Mixed media
- Printmaking
- Photography
- Sculpture
