The Kamloops Art Gallery is a reminder of how art beyond its aesthetic and appeal is transformative. It breaks the barriers of boundaries, deconstructs the established narratives, brings forward the unseen perspectives but, most importantly engages in the discourse with the individuals to discover the world through an unheard voice. The Kamloops art gallery provokes you to take a pause and ponder over the isolated individual experiences that were lost somewhere in the fragments of time.
Located in the unsurpassed lands of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc within Secwepemcúl’ecw, the traditional territory of the Secwépemc people of British Columbia. The Kamloops Art Gallery warmly welcomes you with its purpose-built civic building and a creative window space showcasing interesting objects, wall-hanged paintings of early landscapes, and upcoming exhibitions for passersby.
1. A little background on the Art Gallery
Established in 1978, the Kamloops Art Gallery is the largest in British Columbia. Withholding the interest of its distinguished visitors with its distinctively conceptualized exhibitions and collections.
Interestingly, what compels people to Kamloops Art Gallery is the wide range of events and activities buzzing all around the year. From its awe-striking building built by award-winning architects Peter Karou and Nigel Baldwin in 1998 to the space distribution beyond the exhibitions and collections.
Building upon the early day staff of three Kamloops is now a workplace of thirteen-full-time equivalents workforce with art curators, exhibitors, artists, scholars, and professors who have this zeal to make the experience of the artist, hosting an exhibition and the onlookers of contemporary and modern art, an enlightening entertainment.
2. When you should Visit Kamloops Art Gallery
Ideally, the best time to experience Kamloops Art Gallery is whenever there is a fascinating exhibition focusing on an aspect of the world that never hooked you before, for a leisure tour to mingle with the art is between Tuesday to Saturday. The visiting hours are between 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.
For indulging in a community hot spot where people engage in talking about the magnificence of art and creating awe-inspiring art, one must visit the Kamloops Art Gallery on Free Admission Thursdays between 10:00 am to 5:00 pm which was sponsored by British Columbia Lottery Corporations.
Save your ride by not visiting on Monday, Sunday, and permitted holidays.
3. How the Art Gallery is a delight for all
For a person who is an art enthusiast this place is the realm of hidden magic in all, its nooks and crannies. There is so much going around that it might crave you to keep searching for inspiration from its largest collection of prints by Daphne Ojek in one corner to its unique blend of film, video, performance photography, and music in Ghost Days on the other.
Whereas, for someone who is not so passionate about art and interested in learning its dynamics of it. Kamloops simply circle them in by organizing the vivid public events of art-making workshops, talks, lectures, tours, video installations, and film screenings.
This includes an individual in better understanding of the work they are consuming from the collection and learning the process of studio-based programming of art when they built them in a studio under the guidance of a professional instructor.
The Kamloops Art Gallery tours
Imagine after delighting in the magnificent Canadian impressionist paintings and some transformative art experiences one could tour the gallery spaces to learn how the individuals put this all together.
The behind-the-scenes efforts that craftily molded a very small space into a creative medium of thoughts unsaid to the decades-long additions in the collections storage, the touring exhibition at downtown Kamloops make this a reality.
Touring back in Indigenous experiences
What is refreshing is how Kamloops respectfully regard regional art through its cubes. A space solely dedicated to the local art and artist from the region, the emerging artists from the tops of the Nicola region, and giving the graduates of Thompson University their first professional breakthrough. This space profoundly brings forward the rich cultural heritage of the indigenous people to the forefront.
The Vibrant Gallery Store
Besides, being a place where the local artists are hosted in cube Kamloop in its Gallery store supports local vendors by hosting their handmade products, and unique giftware items. The gift shop is a hub for anything that sparks interest from a pottery piece to craftable handpainted cards, it can be your go-to place for all the latest drawing stationery and everything that adds vibrancy to your canvas.
The Research Library
For someone who likes to spend a great amount of their time in the archives, the Kamloops wonderful library can be a beautiful place to stroll around. Facilitated with a WiFi connection, the surreal space with perfect silence, and in the company of art books, historical and contemporary photography. This all can be your rescue when you are exhausted while browsing through the art gallery or when there is an assignment due.
4. How Kamloops programs cater to different Age groups
The Kamloops Art Gallery is inclusive of people from all age groups. It organizes different programs catering to the different needs of children and adults while taking into consideration how art and its interpretation differ for different age groups.
For Children
It has a Children’s program where it organizes School Camps, In “Explorations, A Summer of Art ” encourages young summer visitors to think of the world as their canvas. One can also collaborate with them to organize an educational tour or a workshop for their school.
For Adults
It also has an adult program “By Youth for Youth” by Kamloops Art Council the initiative doesn’t provide a ready-made program and gives the individuals a space to design their program themselves from scratch.
Art as a therapy
In 2013, “Crossing Bridge” an outreach program by Kamloops Art Council used the therapeutic power of art to aid in rehabilitating those living with mental health. With the help of photo work, drawing, fiber art, mask making, printing, and art installation the high-quality workshops aimed at making individuals encounter their realities through art.
What makes the overall experience enriching
This half-day drive from Vancouver and a day’s drive from Calgary will be an exciting, desirably admirable, and a transformative art experience for you. Since the space enchantingly invites all its explorers across the globe.
Whether you are someone who is an art enthusiast or a pristine, while browsing through an exhibition here, when you spent hours looking, thinking, questioning, and at times marveling at work in the collection. Gradually, you engage with the series of infamous stories that never existed before in your worldview.
It becomes a medium of interaction between the art and its onlookers. Soaking you in with a critical approach to the art through its mind-blowing exhibition and driving you in digging deeper into how art intermingles with your mundane, seemingly insignificant aspects of routines or daily chores.
