Works by Island artist Ben Kinder on view at Confederation Centre Art Gallery 

March 25, 2025 – A collection of still life and landscape paintings by Island artist Ben Kinder will be on view at Confederation Centre Art Gallery this spring. An official opening reception will be held at the Gallery on Saturday, March 29 at 7 p.m.  

“Ben Kinder was a long-time friend and valued colleague at Confederation Centre Art Gallery,” says Kevin Rice, director of the Gallery. “He hung hundreds of art exhibitions and he never tired of looking at the art. He delighted in exhibition openings; welcoming people, meeting artists, and chatting over a glass of wine.”  

Ben Kinder: Still Lifes and Views is a tribute to the late artist’s search for beauty in the familiar. Kinder especially enjoyed the process of assembling and finding visual inspiration in still lifes from everyday objects, as well as the landscape of his chosen home – Prince Edward Island. His preferred medium was watercolour, with its balance of control and happy accident and its rich colour palette. He was a lover of the poetic, in words, in paint, and in one’s actions.   

Born in 1949 in Hamilton, Ontario, Ben Kinder studied at the Dundas Valley School of Art, graduating in 1973. He soon acquired and custom fit his so-called “painting van” – a 1967 Chevy van with the roof chopped off and replaced with the top half of a VW station wagon, which he fit with windows, transforming it into a travelling studio. He moved to Prince Edward Island in 1975 and quickly fell in love with the place. In his words, “As soon as the tires of my van hit the shore, I felt like I was at home. I had been other places, and very nice places as well, but I’ve never had such a strong sensation of being at home.”  

For the next two decades, Ben Kinder was a fixture of the Island’s artist community, helping to found the Great George St. Gallery – Charlottetown’s first artist-run centre. There he hung the shows as the gallery’s preparator and held numerous solo exhibitions over the years. In 1991, he became preparator at Confederation Centre Art Gallery, retiring in 2020. In the late 1990s, he turned his energies to acting, and became a mainstay in PEI’s theatre scene for decades. 

The exhibition Ben Kinder: Still Lifes and Views, is on view until May 4. Visit confederationcentre.com/artgallery for information on all events and exhibitions at Confederation Centre Art Gallery.  

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Media Contact: Emily McMahon, Communications Manager, Confederation Centre of the Arts
emcmahon@confederationcentre.com | 902-628-6135