A new set of lanterns is on display in the courtyard of the Varley Art Gallery of Markham, opening a month-long outdoor exhibition that sits at the centre of the Unionville gallery's Lunar New Year programming.

Lunar Lanterns runs from Saturday, Feb. 21, to Friday, March 20, and is free to see. It opens on the same weekend as LunarFest GTA, the annual Lunar New Year festival of art and storytelling, which fills the gallery on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

When the festival was announced in late January, the gallery said only that a new set of lunar lanterns was coming. It has since named the six artists behind this year's pieces.

Who made the lanterns

The gallery says the lanterns come from artists of diverse cultural backgrounds and that this year's work shares stories of heritage, identity and connection. The artists are:

  • Stephanie Avery, a Canadian artist

  • Philip Cote, an Indigenous artist

  • Keerat Kaur, a Canadian artist of Sikh-Panjabi heritage

  • Jieun Kim, who works as June, a Korean-born street artist

  • Yasaman Mehrsa, an Iranian-Canadian visual artist

  • Jian-xin Zhou, a Taiwanese illustrator

The exhibition is organized by the Arts for Canadians Tomorrow Society, the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association and the Varley Art Gallery of Markham.

The festival weekend

This year's LunarFest runs under the theme Brave the Wind, drawn from the Year of the Horse, which began with Lunar New Year on Feb. 17.

Alongside the lanterns, the gallery promised free workshops and a film screening. A local events guide lists craft workshops, youth songwriting, performances and family activities over the two days, plus a panel discussion on lion dancing on Saturday. Admission to the festival is free and no registration is required.

More to see inside

Visitors heading to Main Street for the lanterns can also take in the gallery's two winter exhibitions, which opened Feb. 7 and run to May 3: Sameer Farooq: The Fairest Order in the World, curated by Mona Filip, and Sketching the Past, a show of work by F. H. Varley curated by Anik Glaude. The City of Markham says the gallery welcomed 67,000 visitors in 2025, a record.

If you go

  • What: Lunar Lanterns, with LunarFest GTA on the opening weekend

  • When: Lanterns on view Feb. 21 to March 20; LunarFest on Feb. 21 and 22, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

  • Where: Varley Art Gallery of Markham courtyard, 216 Main Street, Unionville

  • Cost: Free