When Crawford finally made it to the store to take in the scene for himself, he says the shelves were \u201cpretty picked over,\u201d but he quickly spotted items from the PAG\u2019s fundraiser stock, now priced as low as $9.99. \u201cI basically filled up people\u2019s shopping carts with art,\u201d he says, giving thrift shoppers extra context about the artists and the work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Outstretched](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785440469_421_default.jpg\")
A shopper at the Value Village in Penticton, B.C., gets a closer look at a piece by the late B.C. artist Mabel Aileen McWilliam. (Paul Crawford)<\/p>\n
To date, his discoveries have included a harbour landscape in pastels by Irene Hoffar Reid, a member of the first graduating class of the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (now Emily Carr University of Art and Design) whose work is in the collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery and Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. <\/p>\n
A watercolour by H.G. Glyde was put out on the shop floor; the English-born painter established the Department of Fine Art at the University of Alberta. And for just $17.99, one lucky shopper took home a two-for-one treasure with a celebrity connection: a mountain scene framed by a hand-painted mat. Titled Glacier National Park and Eagle it\u2019s the work of Bill Alexander, the PBS television host who paved the way for Bob Ross.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnybody with just a cursory knowledge \u2014 who would take the time to look at these works \u2014 would surely know these are worth more than nothing,\u201d says Crawford, who\u2019s distressed to see so many gifts to the gallery turn up at the thrift shop.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Framed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785440470_711_default.jpg\")
As seen at the Penticton Value Village, Glacier National Park and Eagle by Bill Alexander. The artist and former PBS television host was a mentor to Bob Ross. (Paul Crawford)<\/p>\n
\u201cI owe a duty of care to all those people who donated and trusted me and the gallery with their donations,\u201d he says. That\u2019s why he\u2019s been posting about the situation on Facebook. \u201cI\u2019m not here to damage the institution,\u201d he says, referring to the PAG. But by raising his concerns, he hopes the gallery will be more transparent about its divestment process going forward. \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not at all about the fact that they got rid of the work,\u201d says Crawford. \u201cIt\u2019s just how they went about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Crawford\u2019s posts have likely inspired a few opportunistic pickers to go thrifting in Penticton. But they\u2019ve also prompted plenty of heated discourse, and the big question is, of course, how these artworks landed at the Value Village instead of a fundraiser auction as intended.<\/p>\n
It’s not at all about the fact they got rid of the work. It’s just how they went about it.- Paul Crawford, former curator and executive director of the Penticton Art Gallery<\/p>\n
This Tuesday, the PAG responded to messages from the public, emailing members to address the \u201creal concern and confusion\u201d within the community. In that letter, they confirmed rumours of a donation to the Penticton Value Village. Their statement, which was signed by board president Leslie Whatmough and board secretary Kathi Irvine, explained the PAG did not have the space to \u201csafely and responsibly store\u201d hundreds of fundraising donations which were being kept on the premises. A six-person committee was formed last fall to sort and review the holdings, and they evaluated items based on criteria including condition, provenance and whether it had previously been offered at auction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor every piece that we had to let go, at least one other has been kept for future fundraising, and there are many more still to be reviewed,\u201d the email states. \u201cWe are aware that our choice of donation recipient has raised concerns for our community. Please know that we donated the art to a location that would ensure the pieces received maximum exposure. It is our hope that those who see value in the works that were donated will take them into their own homes. Going forward we commit to exploring other avenues when making those choices.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Wednesday\u2019s episode of Daybreak South, CBC Radio\u2019s morning show for the Southern Interior of B.C., local artist Norberto Rodriguez de la Vega responded to the gallery\u2019s statement. \u201cThe whole thing to me is insulting,\u201d said the artist. A friend had recovered one of his works at the Value Village for $11, which wouldn\u2019t even cover the cost of materials, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
LISTEN | Daybreak South with Chris Walker:<\/p>\n
Daybreak South14:55Penticton Art Gallery sets the record straight on why donated art ended up at the local Value Village<\/p>\n
Leslie Whatmough, board chair for the Penticton Art Gallery, says a team of people with extensive art knowledge spent months vetting the art work that was eventually donated to the Value Village, and the decision was made with much consideration.<\/p>\n
Crawford worries the situation has damaged the gallery\u2019s relationships with artists like de la Vega; by making their work available at reduced prices, future sales are undermined \u2014 a reality that impacts commercial galleries in the region, as well, many of which have supported the PAG through donations and financial support.<\/p>\n
Whatmough was also on Wednesday\u2019s Daybreak South to respond to the thrift-shop debacle. She spoke with CBC Arts later that day. \u201cWe made, in hindsight, a really bad decision,\u201d said Whatmough, who joined the PAG board in May.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Recently arrived from Ontario, where she was the curator of education at the Burlington Art Gallery, Whatmough was appointed interim board president last October. It\u2019s been a tumultuous period at the PAG. Last fall, the board took over the gallery\u2019s operations. In August, the PAG announced a series of staffing changes, claiming financial woes were to blame. Crawford was among those affected. The gallery said the long-time curator had been placed on a temporary layoff; that October, he filed a civil lawsuit against the PAG seeking damages tied to his dismissal. Later that month, multiple board members split, including the president, Claude Roberto.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We made, in hindsight, a really bad decision.- Leslie Whatmough, board president of the Penticton Art Gallery<\/p>\n
In November, Whatmough and the reshuffled board were trying to find more exhibition space for the PAG\u2019s permanent collection when they discovered hundreds of undocumented items taking up valuable real estate in the gallery\u2019s storage rooms. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not saying it was all artwork. There was framed posters you would have got at Winners, there was memorabilia, there was randomness that did not make any sense,\u201d she says. \u201cSo, we don’t know why it was there. And the only reason we called it the \u2018fundraising inventory\u2019 was because there was a sign on the shelf that said \u2018for fundraising.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Whatmouth says the gallery spent months trying to locate more information about the fundraising inventory: records of provenance, tax receipts, etc. \u201cThere was nothing attached to any of the pieces,\u201d she says. A few works were successfully returned to the artists who created them, she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe realized the quality of a lot of things wouldn\u2019t have raised us any money,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat do we do? Like, where do you take it when you\u2019ve got that much stuff?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a small community, and there are a handful, maybe, of thrift shops. But most of them don\u2019t have art in them,\u201d says Whatmough. \u201cValue Village has art and shelves where it displays it. So it\u2019s like, OK. That made sense on a weird, fast level.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Framed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785440471_461_default.jpg\")
This 1973 landscape by Irene Hoffar Reid, Looking West Across Tsehum Harbour, was on sale at the Penticton Value Village for $4.99. (Paul Crawford)<\/p>\n
During his time at the PAG, Crawford would hold onto fundraiser donations if they didn\u2019t achieve an auction price that reflected their value. Unsold works often appeared at future fundraisers, he says. Donated artwork was also sold through professional auction houses, and he says the PAG could have contacted an auction company about some of the \u201chigher profile items\u201d that have turned up at Value Village. He singles out works by H.G. Glyde, Nicholas de Grandmaison, Irene Hoffar Reid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThese options would also have helped ensure that the majority of funds generated from the sale of these works were returned to support the gallery\u2019s programs and operations,\u201d he says in an email.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Vincent has lived in Penticton since 2009, and the PAG has always been one of her favourite places in town. Last week, she was shocked when she saw one of Crawford\u2019s Facebook posts from the VV boutique.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a regular gallery goer, Vincent knew the PAG kept a collection of contributions from the community, artwork intended for fundraising events. \u201cTo hear that they had been delivered in a U-Haul van to Value Village without any notification to the community felt like a betrayal of that trust,\u201d says Vincent. The next morning, she was outside the store, waiting for the doors to open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a handful of other people too,\u201d says Vincent. \u201cMost of us went straight to the section where the art was.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785440471_72_default.jpg\")
A few bins of artwork that appeared on the floor of the Penticton Value Village last week. Paul Crawford posted this photo after visiting the shop in search of items donated by the Penticton Art Gallery. (Paul Crawford)<\/p>\n
Vincent arrived at the store with a mission. Her mother, former CBC Radio broadcaster Carol Munro, was passionate about art. Over the years, Munro had gifted several of her original paintings to the gallery\u2019s fundraisers. <\/p>\n
![\"Watercolour](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785440472_333_default.jpg\")
Penticton resident Jennifer Vincent purchased this watercolour by Janine Gallizia from the local Value Village. (Jennifer Vincent)<\/p>\n