Foreign Languages: Homages to the Misunderstood
Dal Schindel Gallery, Regent College | April 8 – May 30, 2026
The Dal Schindel Gallery at Regent College is proud to present Foreign Languages: Homages to the Misunderstood, a landmark exhibition by Vancouver-based artist Brigitte Potter-Mael. Running from April 8 to May 30, 2026, this retrospective draws together 25 years of sustained artistic inquiry, inviting viewers into a world where botanical life, written language, and the human impulse to translate one another into meaning converge on the page. Featuring several large-scale works on paper, the exhibition unfolds as an extended poetic meditation—one that asks us to sit with what resists easy understanding, and to find beauty there.
About the Artist
Born in southern Germany in 1943, Brigitte Potter-Mael immigrated to Canada in 1977, settling first in Montreal where she began her formal artistic training. She earned her BFA from Concordia University in 1983, developing a practice rooted in drawing, papermaking, printmaking, and installation art. A six-month residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1989–90 brought her west, and the lush, layered landscapes of British Columbia drew her permanently to Victoria in 1990, then to Vancouver in 1995, where she has lived and worked ever since.
Her work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and internationally, with artist residencies and exhibitions in Germany, Italy, France, and Denmark keeping her practice in active dialogue with Europe. She has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Goethe Institute Vancouver, the Kulturamt Dresden, and numerous other institutions worldwide.
Exhibition Events
Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 8, 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm Artist Talk: Wednesday, April 15, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Foreign Languages arrives at a moment when the distances between cultures, species, and systems of meaning feel both wider and more urgent than ever. Potter-Mael’s works do not promise translation so much as they honor the act of reaching across—the tender, persistent effort to understand what speaks in a language not quite our own. This exhibition is an invitation to slow down, look closely, and listen.
Dal Schindel Gallery | Regent College, 5800 Blvd, Vancouver, BC schindelgallery.ca | dalschindelgallery@regent-college.edu Monday–Thursday: 9 am – 8 pm | Friday: 9 am – 6 pm | Saturday: 10 am – 4 pm
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