Steve Huculiak - as an Artist
I am a late-career multidisciplinary artist and design consultant with 48 years of professional experience, primarily designing buildings for architects and planning public and private land developments in Toronto, Vancouver, and the Okanagan Valley.
My role centered on the conceptual and preliminary design phases, where establishing a strong early concept and simple, coherent layouts ensured projects would carry integrity and resonance through to completion. A skill in freehand drawing, watercolour, and presentation rendering supported numerous of the major design projects I delivered across these regions.
Throughout this career, I maintained a parallel visual art practice, selling paintings through commercial galleries in the British Columbia’s Interior. My diverse creative history established me as an industry-recognized artist-designer, noted for an original design approach and expressive artistry. Collaborating on large, complex projects taught me the discipline and vision needed to see ambitious creative work through to realization—skills I now apply fully to my fine art practice.
I work full-time from my home studio, drawing and painting with a view to sculpture. My new body of work draws from personal ancestry, northern European environments, and an intuitive visual language. Rooted in the meditative experience of the natural world, these works on paper and canvas subtly acknowledge ancestral influences, including the Sami culture, while being careful not to appropriate or claim Indigenous knowledge.
My recent board involvement at the Kelowna Art Gallery and the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art gives me valuable insight into how artists move work from the studio into public and private collections. As past Chair of the Kelowna Art Gallery’s Acquisitions Committee, I worked selecting some of the best contemporary Canadian art, strengthening my understanding of curatorial practices and professional standards.
After decades working behind the scenes in studios and boardrooms, my art is now more visible. I am now stepping forward, shaping a maturing and deeply personal visual language—emerging in community, in public, and with full commitment to an exploratory and meaningful art practice.
I am a passionate supporter of all artists and their creative processes.
As a Design Consultant
My role is to give the earliest vision to the creative aspects of the project - with unrestricted imagination.
Creating original digital building design models, artful drawings and illustrative sketches I provide expressive and reasoned solutions to inform the design solution.
The design process in land development is complex and filled with variables. It is here - at the very beginning - that the best creative ideas will be explored.
Land Acknowledgment
Acknowledging the unceded territories on which we live and work is not only an act of recognition, but also an essential step towards reconciliation and decolonization.
By honoring the rightful Indigenous stewards of the land, we pay tribute to their deep connection with the territory, their cultures, and their rich heritage.
Steve Huculiak works in his home studio on the the traditional, ancestral and unceded tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ (land) of the syilx okanagan people.
