Lobsters are everywhere here. They shape the rhythms of the seasons, fill our harbours, support our communities, and have crept into the visual language of the South Shore. All Lobsters All the Time embraces that reality with equal measures of affection, curiosity, and mischief. Sixteen artists have taken the lobster as their starting point—creating paintings, photographs, prints, sculpture, drawings, and unexpected hybrids that celebrate, transform, and occasionally poke fun at our favourite crustacean. From bronze lobster bait bags and weavings made from discarded claw bands to portraits, monuments, and glorious oddities, this exhibition proves that a single creature can inspire an astonishing variety of ideas. Whether you’re here for the art, the humour, or simply because this is lobster country, we hope you leave seeing this familiar icon with fresh eyes.

Artists included are Marian Bantjes, Emily Black, Helah Cooper, Emma Fitzgerald, Tim Forbes, Annika Groebner, Doug Guildford, Katherine Knight, Ken Krayer, Carley Mullally, Michael Peters, David Peters, Christopher Porter, Craig Rubadoux, Peter Stewart, and Brianne Williams. Paintings, sculptures, prints, weavings, photographs; the expected and the unexpected.

DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!

[TBD]

June 5 – July 11 2026

Marian Bantjes’ work covers a wide ground, and in the past we have shown her work of lettering, patterns, sticker paintings, digital collages and valentines. This time, we have a collection of miscellaneous works made over several decades, in a variety of media and subject matter. Some were made last month; the earliest was made in 1977.

April 18 – May 30 2026

Niklaus Troxler is an internationally recognized Swiss designer well-known for his jazz posters, mostly from the Willisau Jazz Festival, which he started, and organized from 1975 to 2009. 

He has received countless awards and honours for his work, and has been shown in exhibitions across the world. This was a unique opportunity for Nova Scotians to see a small selection of Niklaus’ lively, vibrant posters at their original size of 90.5cm x 180cm (35.5in x 50.5 in), as well as 15 original pieces of his current tape art. 

March 5 – April 11 2026

Edith Pahlke was born in Berlin, Germany in 1936 and has spent her life as a traveller and artist, with a love for letters, language, art, and reading. She lived and worked in Ottawa, Canada for more than 40 years. She is now a resident of Nova Scotia.

We showed a selection of linocuts and graphic projects that focus on the interplay of letters, words and images, often presented as poems and short texts. These distinctive typographic prints transform language into visual architecture. Created in the 1960s as hand-pulled linocut prints in small editions, the works explore the expressive possibilities of letterforms arranged in spirals, vertical structures, and ornamental compositions. Drawing on texts in German, Icelandic, English, and French, Pahlke treats words not simply as language but as shapes, patterns, and rhythms.

January 13 – February 28 2026

For 15 years, from 2005 to 2019, Marian Bantjes sent out hundreds of valentines to friends and clients. While starting out as a single mail-out, her valentines project became increasingly unusual, personal and mysterious. Being on Marian’s list became highly coveted in the graphic design industry. Examples from all 15 years are collected in this show, 

December 2025 – January 2026

The Tolerance Project is a travelling poster exhibit, founded and curated by New York designer Mirko Ilic.

The posters are created by designers and artists worldwide, whose only directive was to illustrate the word “Tolerance” in their own language.

DAG chose 44 out of hundreds of possibilities to bring to Nova Scotia.

November – December 2025

Multi-award-winning Swiss graphic designer Erich Brechbühl is a master of poster design. We brought in 11 of Brechbuhl’s Weltformat posters (90.5cm x 180cm (35.5in x 50.5 in)), most of them silkscreened.

Brechbuhl’s work has been collected in museums across Europe, and has had solo shows in the US, South America, China nd The Netherlands. He is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).

September – October 2025

Marian Bantjes has been working with patterns for 30 years, in one form or another. This show is a collection of some of this work, in a variety of media. Originals are hung, but prints of many of them are also available. 

Hung on the main wall, behind the artwork are 8 pieces of upholstery fabric, designed by Marian and manufactured by Maharam (now owned by Herman Miller, along with Knoll and Kravat). As this design is now out of production, these artist’s samples are the last remaining pieces.

July – August 2025

Large archival prints of “bouquets” of various things, created digitally from hundreds of images generated in AI by Marian Bantjes. This work continues her interests, in kitsch, and in using mundane objects to create intricate ornament. These 44 x56-inch prints are incredibly detailed, and belie the viewers first impression of flowers to reveal e.g. lobsters, wrestlers, crustaceans, ships, goats and other unusual things.

June 2025

May 2025

Marian Bantjes made her name in the design world with custom lettering. This exhibit shows a mixture of originals and prints from her career, with lettering made by drawing, painting, digital works, embroidery and arrangements of objects. Prints of various sizes available.

Design Art Gallery (DAG*) is devoted to the work of Marian Bantjes and the work of designers who also function as artists or whose design work is akin to Art.

DAG is located at 183 Lincoln St. (the “gallery street”) of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

We also have prints, cards, notebooks, t-shirts, silk scarves and ephemera designed by Marian Bantjes and made in Canada.

*The dagger is a typographic symbol denoting a footnote.