How Kamloops artists are creating new local spaces to showcase art

Editor’s Note Aug. 18, 2025: This story was updated to remove mention of an auction Aug. 21 due to its cancellation.

Kamloops is brimming with creative talent, but for many local artists, finding a place to show their work is hard. 

With gallery space scarce and costs high, a wave of grassroots venues and collectives are stepping in, proving that when the art can’t find a home, artists will build one themselves.

For artist Leslie Carty, the co-owner of the Living Arts Studio, the lack of spaces and funding for local artists are among the reasons most creators maintain full-time jobs, rather than diving into their passion full time.

Carty and Living Arts’ co-owner Shelaigh Garson are among the folks stepping up to help bridge the gap between artists creating and showing their work in Kamloops.

“I think the art is out there, there’s just not enough venues,” Garson says.

In addition to Living Arts’ studio, other locals and organizations are working to create a place for artists to thrive. Below are a few options for folks looking to share their passions with the city. 

The Living Arts Studio

The Living Arts Studio has been open for around eight years, Garson tells The Wren. 

Driven to fill the gap in venues for creating and showcasing art in Kamloops, Garson and Carty put their 40 years of experience toward opening a space for workshops including weaving, fiber arts, airbrushing and more. 

From the beginning, the focus was on building a community, Garson explains. 

“It’s not a huge space, but we’ve connected with other artists that have larger spaces that they don’t have open as galleries, and so we have supported quite a few local artists,” Garson says.

While the gallery is open to the public, it is by invitation only due to the building’s location in a residential neighbourhood. 

During events, they try to focus on artists who aren’t showing elsewhere or have work out commercially.

They have hosted events where up to 20 local artists can sell their items. At one event, a local artist showcased 50 paintings, and sold them all. 

“I think that there’s a lot of hugely talented people here,”  Garson says. “I think it’s just they don’t know where to go or show or it’s out of reach financially.”

With hoops to jump through, committees to join and lists to get on, Carty explains most artists simply don’t know where to go.

As an artist himself, Carty wanted to create this space to help other artists in the community.

“We thought we’d really like to showcase new and up and coming artists and have a space for them, to have a venue that’s not going to cost them an arm and a leg.” 

In some cases galleries ask between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of the price the piece sells according to Carty.

“That means you need to really price your work almost out of range to make any money, and then, therefore you don’t sell any pieces.”
Carty and Garson are committed to promoting art in Kamloops, they host workshops and shows all by themselves. To support and know more about their programming visit their Facebook page The Living Arts Studio.

Old Federal Studios

Old Federal Studios started in October 2023, when the Kamloops Makerspace moved into a different space in the Northshore. Five artists currently reside in the space, which operates as a workspace and gallery. The space has tin pan ceilings and antique wooden banisters which give it the heritage feel. 

Vaughn Warren, one of the founders, has been a lifelong Kamloopsian and a professional freelance artist for more than 35 years. 

Warren has been involved in the Kamloops art scene for a while and has worked with the Kamloops Art Gallery for five years as an exhibition designer and preparator, handling and maintaining art work. 

Besides agreeing there is a lack of space for artists to show in Kamloops, Warren points to the gap that exists between enjoying art and buying art. 

“Some communities are very supportive of artists in terms of buying their art. Others are supportive more just in terms of showing up for their opening and eating their cheese and wine and not buying art,” Warren says. 

Having worked on a variety of arts-related boards and organizations, including the Kamloops Arts Council, Kamloops Museum Association, Graffiti Task Force, Kamloops Arts Commission, Kamloops Makerspace and ART International, he knows the power of collaboration.

“In my work in the arts over the years, I’ve always felt that artists operate best in groups or salons or collectives,” Warren says. “I feel that the safety is in numbers, and they can really amplify each other’s work, resources and opportunities.”

Reflecting that belief, this space offers a place to gather and create, and some artists live in the building while others who use the space create or show. 

When Warren started thinking about what the studio would bring, he wanted to keep an open mind about programming. 

“I felt that what I wanted to do was provide a platform for creative people to live, to work, to show their work,” Warren says. “I would kind of sit back a little bit and see what comes to us, because I didn’t want to dictate what style of art would be displayed or what genre…”

In addition to the gallery, there is a store where artists can put their work up for sale, a small area where folks can do graphic design, a sculpture studio and shared wood shop. 

“I want to see the artist develop what they’re developing, and to provide a platform for that,” Warren says.  

Warren shares that he is excited to see where Old Federal Studios ends up and is excited to become a hub for creation.

“What I’m excited about is developing Old Federal Studios as one of those pins in the map where it’s a place where people meet, they develop art, display art and buy art.”

Kamloops Artist Vortex

Roxi Hermsen started the Kamloops Artist Vortex with the idea to create spaces where local artists could sell their artwork.

“When I moved to Kamloops, I just found that there wasn’t a lot happening for the artists,” Hermsen says. “There were places you could show, but not really sales oriented.” 

The goal was to promote artists as well as support local businesses and important causes. 

One of the organization’s recent events was an art auction with funds donated to the Big Little Science Centre. 

During these events folks can go meet the artists, creating the circular effect of creating and supporting community.

“We’re supporting the artists, supporting communities, supporting local businesses. Win, win, win is the concept,” Hermsen says. 

The auctions have been hosted at the Old Federal Studios space by showcasing art by Isabelle Faulkner, Debbie Lund, Tilly Perry and Hermsen herself.

“All of our auction pieces are brand new, so they haven’t been up someplace or dug out from storage. They’re all created for the event,” Hermsen says.

More events will be organized over the fall featuring a silent and live auction. For more information on the upcoming events visit the Kamloops Artist Vortex Facebook page.

The Vortex is also looking for more artists so they can participate in more events, Hermsen says she would love to work with more folks in the community.

Other ways to support local artists

The audience is a key part of bolstering art, Clement Yeh, artist and a professor at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) in the visual arts and communication department says. While Kamloops may have a lack of art spaces, community involvement is also needed, and the participation of residents in exhibitions of events is vital. 

“There have been suggestions of a database where all arts communities and events, public and private, are searchable within one digital platform,” he says. “It would make a huge difference since many people complain they don’t know where to hear about local events.”

Yeh has acknowledged that although there is programming in Kamloops for the arts it still is a hard place to showcase your art. 

“There’s a whole bunch of different types of reasons why the arts struggle here, in terms of walkability, affordability, people with expertise and the kind of leadership that would be required to bring different people from different communities,” Yeh says. 

Collaboration among organizations is also key in ensuring a blooming art community, he says. In comparison to larger cities, which often have multiple arts communities for a variety of folks and interests, Kamloops requires a cohesive arts infrastructure that works together, Yeh explains. 

“I’ll say this as neutrally as I can so as not to step on any toes. I find that there is too much division within the local art scene, including people that refuse to work with others, or organizations that have built walls that limit access to one demographic or another, and subsequently people don’t feel those organizations reflect their needs,” he says. “This needs to change in order for us to grow.”

In some cases it can be harder for artists who do not have an academic involvement to access spaces like KAG Yeh says, recalling that in art school you learn how to create your own exhibition when you aren’t tied to an institution. 

“For example, talking to an empty commercial space and convincing them to let you install work in it and do your own marketing and promotion. But if you’re young and you haven’t been shown the steps, then it would never occur to you to do that as an option.”

For artists who are just starting, Yeh advises approaching local coffee shops or cafes. Some examples in the cases of Kamloops are the Art We Are and Kamloops Artisan Bazaar & Soup Desire Cafe which feature local art. 

Organizations like the Kamloops Arts Council (KAC) are also doing the best they can according to Yeh. 

“The KAC does as much as they can within the limits of their funding and staff. They have a lot of knowledge at their disposal. The KAC has talked about running workshops, and they have in the past, but sometimes you put a lot of work into promoting the workshops and the right people don’t hear about it, or they don’t commit to it.”

To build a community that makes art, Warren emphasized the importance of supporting the arts.

“I think that any healthy community needs to have all levels of arts and it’s well worth the investment,” Warren says. “It’s been well shown that the visual arts generate huge amounts of economic activity in all sizes of communities and healthy children. All ages of people benefit directly from a vibrant arts scene.”