 His work is in many important museum and gallery collections including the Canadian Museum of History; the Royal British Columbia Museum; the University of British Columbia's Museum of Anthropology; the Columbia Museum of Ethnology; the Aboriginal and Northern Affairs art collection in Ottawa, the Smithsonian Institution; National Museum of Ethnology in Japan; and the Hamburgisches Museum fur Volkerskkunde in Hamburg, Germany.Major commissions include the Vancouver Airport Authority, the Museum of Northern B.C., Prince Rupert; and the Owase Community Cultural Centre, Japan.Dempsey's preferred medium is wood although he uses many different materials in his work.