Cowichan Performing Arts Centre

The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes - SOLD OUT
2026-02-28 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Vancouver) | Cowichan Performing Arts Centre, 2687 James Street, Duncan, BC, V9L 2X5, Canada
A co-presentation with Optic Nerve Films. This event is sold out. Please call 250-746-2722 to join the waitlist.
Over the course of his 70-year career, E.J. Hughes created hundreds of paintings of British Columbia. From coastal villages to the Rocky Mountains, he captured the province in vivid, meticulous detail. Working quietly in his Vancouver Island studio, the paintings he produced evoke shared memories and a dreamlike sense of place, captivating elite collectors and everyday Canadians alike.
Known as a reclusive, sensitive soul, Hughes’ future as an artist was far from certain when he graduated from Vancouver’s fledgling art school during the Depression. In 1938, Hughes was struggling to make a living from fishing when he sketched the coastal scene before him. Sixty-five years later, Fish Boats, Rivers Inlet—the oil painting inspired by that sketch—would fetch a fortune at auction, setting a new record for a living Canadian artist.
How did a man too shy to attend his own art openings become so acclaimed? Along the way, Hughes crossed paths with artists from the legendary Group of Seven and became one of Canada’s most prolific war artists, chronicling army life during the Second World War and profoundly changing his own artistic voice in the process. Travel through painted landscapes and Canadian art history, tracing the quietly extraordinary life of B.C. painter, E.J. Hughes.
Join us after the screening for a in-person Q&A with the filmmaker!

Learn more about the production here
