T H E C O L L E C T I O N

The Kamloops Art Gallery’s collection of 3100+ works of art is aligned with the Gallery’s curatorial commitment to support artists and engage audiences as a critical contribution to our cultural heritage. Reflecting the Gallery’s exhibition history, the collection is developed to include historical and contemporary artworks by Canadian and international artists as a part of our participation in broader dialogues about art.

In recognition of the problematic homogeneity of our institution’s past collecting practices, we are actively developing a collection that supports living artists with diverse worldviews and that is representative of art making today, for audiences of the future. Along with our exhibitions, we are focused on creating a collection that is critically responsive to systems of cultural and racial oppression, representative of diverse lived experiences and contemporary art practices.

As the principal gallery in Secwepemcúl’ecw, the Southern Interior of British Columbia, the Kamloops Art Gallery is a comprehensive resource for visual culture in our region. Established with the founding of the Gallery in 1978, the collection continues to grow every year. As a non-profit public art gallery, we acquire artwork by means of donations, bequests, purchases, and exchanges with other institutions by donation or purchase.

Works from the collection are presented in exhibitions at the Gallery and are loaned to other institutions across the country. The collection is also used by researchers, scholars, and students, as well as authors, publishers, and other museums and galleries, who reproduce images in print and through online publications.

This selection of artwork offers highlights as well as the ability to search for specific works from the Gallery’s collection. Please check back often as this digital resource will continue to grow and evolve.

SEARCH THE COLLECTION

O N D I S P L A Y I N K A M L O O P S

The Kamloops Art Gallery has work from the collection in various places around Kamloops to intrigue and inspire people outside the Gallery. We encourage you to visit these works.

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TRUCK CHILLING PARK

Joe Farad

Obilix, 2001

1452 McGill Road, Kamloops

After a much-needed makeover, artist Joe Fafard’s iconic bronze bull sculpture, Obilix, is making his public return. In the Collection of the Kamloops Art Gallery (KAG), locals may recognize Obilix from his years residing at the entrance of Riverside Park near the Rotary Bandshell. In 2022 the City of Kamloops and the KAG removed the bull for restoration work after repeated acts of vandalism.

ROYAL INLAND HOSPITAL

Vera Frenkel // Yves Gaucher // Rita Letendre // Guido Molinari // Gordon Smith // Joyce Wieland

Various Works

Art in the Hospital
311 Columbia Street, Kamloops

In 2010 The Kamloops Art Gallery created an outreach program in conjunction with Royal Inland Hospital and Friends Kamloops Art Gallery called the “Art in the Hospital” Program. The Gallery selected contemporary art works in its collection that were acquired from the Canada Council Art Bank to install throughout the hospital. This program was an opportunity to place original works of art in public spaces and to enhance patient well-being in a typically ‘sterile’ hospital environment. The Art in the Hospital artworks include prints by well-known Canadian artists, including Vera Frenkel, Yves Gaucher, Rita Letendre, Guido Molinari, Gordon Smith and Joyce Wieland. The Gallery is currently working with the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation to develop a permanent collection of artworks to be installed in the newly built Patient Care Tower, adjacent to the current hospital.

THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY

Claude Tousignant

Ovale, 1969

805 TRU Way, Kamloops

Tousignant’s work is represented in major museum collections across Canada. This painting was previously shown at the National Gallery of Canada in 1973 and represents an important movement in the history of Canadian art. This work was acquired by the Kamloops Art Gallery in 2014 as a gift from the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. It is currently on loan to Thompson Rivers University (TRU) where it is installed in proximity to the Visual and Performing Arts Department. By exhibiting this work in a busy building on TRU’s campus, the Gallery endeavors to inspire young art students in their own work and to share this work with a broader public.

TOURNAMENT CAPITAL CENTRE

Cameron Kerr

Freud’s Ceiling, 2012

910 McGill Rd, Kamloops

Commissioned by the City of Vancouver to celebrate the City’s 125th anniversary, Freud’s Ceiling is part of a body of work that emerged from Vancouver-based artist Cameron Kerr’s research into diverse fields of inquiry, including art history, modernist architecture, iconography in the built and cultural environment, as well as biology and psychology.

L O A N S

The Kamloops Art Gallery is committed to providing opportunities for access to its collection and welcomes requests from museums and institutions to borrow artworks through its outgoing loans program. To learn more or to make a loan request, contact Collections Manager/Registrar, Krystyna Halliwell

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