Lana Fine is the creative director of Same Sky Art Collective in Kamloops that showcases artwork by those with lived experience.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

Hidden behind an unassuming glass façade on Kamloops North Shore is an art gallery full of popping colour and creativity with a relaxing ambiance that feels like home.

The creative director of the Same Sky Art Collective, Lana Fine, was painting at a wooden table when iNFOnews.ca stopped by on a rainy afternoon in July to find out what makes her studio so different from traditional art galleries.

“Take your time, there’s a lot to look at in here,” she said with a vibrant, welcoming smile. The walls around her and throughout the long room have every kind of art on them including paintings, watercolours, blown up photographs and collages.

In the middle of the room is a circle of comfortable chairs placed around a table with a brightly painted top while along the edges are shelves with handcrafted jewelry. It’s a lively, welcoming space.

The gallery is a non-profit studio that showcases the art pieces of community members with lived experience in the toxic drug crisis, and pays the artists 70% of sales. Artists participate in display placement, and naming and pricing their pieces.

It is also where Fine is collecting research for her thesis on the ongoing, deadly crisis that has killed almost 17,000 British Columbians since 2016. 

“This studio is really about empowering everybody in the community to have an inviting, inclusive space that honors all forms of knowledge and communicating,” she said. “Every piece of art has a story, and people can come back to revisit their own. It gives them that ownership and empowerment over their own journeys.”

This artwork was donated to Same Sky Collective in Kamloops by Kelowna artist and photographer Karen Stewart.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

Some of the artists are participating in Fine’s research that includes interviews and creating cultural story maps about their experiences living on the streets.

“Cultural story mapping is a research methodology that acknowledges different forms of understanding relationship to space and place using creative mediums, like drawing story maps. People share their stories with me and I’m using that to benefit the people it’s focussed on.”

Themes are emerging from the story maps that include the significant role art takes in healing from trauma, the harmful effects of stigma and the value of human connection and community support.

The need for wrap-around services and the inclusion of people with lived experience in decision making are big themes, Fine has discovered.

“When it comes to making policies and changes, we’re still missing people in the conversations,” she said. “Either their voices aren’t included or they’re feeling like there isn’t a safe space to talk about the things they want to.” 

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The goal and intention of the studio is to create a safe space where artists can support one another and feel good about their creations. 

“There’s inclusion of all voices where people have a say and if something doesn’t feel right, those are concerns taken on, yet we haven’t run into that, this space is so positive.  All the artists show respect and kindness for each other.

“It breaks down some of those social constructs of what it means to be a person with lived experience, chronic homelessness or people that are street entrenched. These folks shouldn’t be labelled, they have talent and beauty that is in every individual.”

Brightly coloured artwork by Lisa Marie Selzler hangs on the walls at Same Sky Collective in Kamloops.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

Fine grew up in Kelowna and later moved to Victoria to earn a bachelor degree in social work before working on the front lines of the opioid crisis for several years. Passionate about harm reduction and drug policy reform, she decided to continue her education and moved to Kamloops in the fall of 2023 to take the Masters of Art in Human Rights and Social Justice program in order take on the crisis on a policy level.

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During the program, Fine and fellow student Kris Middleton started the Same Sky Collective, a non-profit society focussed on inclusivity and providing space for local artists to sell and display their work. The pair were doing a practicum at The Loop resource centre before it closed down last year.

“I was running a drop-in art space and street college and starting to collect my research there, but when it closed, we were disconnected with the people I wanted to focus on,” she said. “We needed to have a physical space that is safe for people to share their stories.”

Kamloops artist John Smallman created this art piece that is found at Same Sky Collective in Kamloops.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

A rental space opened up just down the street from The Loop, and the pair jumped on the opportunity. After months of renovations, the collective opened in December, 2024.

“It’s a space for fostering connectivity and honoring relationships with those in the street community both as artists and research participants. They have a sense of purpose by staying actively engaged in the community, sharing their creativity and being compensated for their work.”

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Fine said sales of art pieces vary every week with up to three pieces being sold per day, and an increasing number of shoppers are coming through the doors.

Same Sky Art Collective is supported by the research and art departments at Thompson Rivers University, donations from the community and funds raised at local events. Run by volunteers, the hours of operation are not exact, but the doors open most days at 10 a.m. at 419 Tranquille Road.

The Same Sky Collective is located in Kamloops at 419 Tranquille Road.

(SHANNON AINSLIE / iNFOnews.ca)

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