The South Okanagan-Similkameen is one of Canada’s most endangered ecosystems, home to 246 species at risk. This summer, the Bald Range wildfire burned more than 21,000 hectares near Summerland, and many in the valley are still finding ways to process what was lost. Through Artvocacy, a CPAWS-BC program run with the Penticton and District Community Arts Council (PDCAC), artists from across the South and Central Okanagan came together to build skills, find community and learn how to turn their love of this place into art that speaks up for it.
The result is Artvocacy: Art for Vibrant Communities and a Living Planet, on now at the Leir House Cultural Centre in Penticton. It’s free to visit and it closes December 19, 2026.
“Devastation and beauty can exist in the same frame… We are trying to hold both, to grieve what is being lost and insist that more can be saved,” says Tristan Boisvert, Executive Director of the PDCAC.
What is Artvocacy?
Artvocacy brings together emerging and amateur artists across the Okanagan to use their creative practice to advocate for nature. Since February, this first cohort of 15 artists has shown up to webinars, field trips and masterclasses, learning about species at risk, Indigenous-led stewardship and what it takes to protect 30% of BC by 2030. They visited places like the Ashnola Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area and the ntámłqən Community Garden & Food Hub, then turned all of it into keystone projects that connect their artistic voice to real conservation issues.
What you’ll see
Paintings, beadwork, photography, sculpture, fibre, clay and even an audio and haptic installation. Here’s what to look for:
Lyse Deselliers’ Our park, at last illustrates the beauty of the steppe-shrub and grassland in the proposed South Okanagan-Similkameen National Park Reserve. Her sculpture Biodiversity, a fine balance shows the delicate balance between human needs and the natural world.
Cynthia Franz’s Home, her first 3D artwork, is a love letter to the South Okanagan Similkameen. It merges what is home to the area’s unique species with the context of a human home.
Kait Dean’s 30 Reasons for 30 x 30 represents 30 at-risk species that live in the Okanagan.
Deb Tougas’ It’s Time reflects on the biodiversity we are at risk of losing and the urgent need to act.
Lesah Curatolo’s wildfire paintings look at how climate change has made smoke-free summers a distant memory. “I’m not okay with this new normal.”
In Mourning/Morning, Melanie and Tristan Boisvert move the viewer between ecological grief and hope in the Ashnola IPCA, an area severely affected by the 2023 forest fire. “What have we lost? This is what remains and is it worth standing beside?”
Michelle Jacobs’ Sharing Woven Wisdom is a painted map of the Ashnola Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area with woven cedar and birch bark baskets, pine needle designs and bead weaving.
Ariel Kesike Hill’s Beaded Landscapes Series – South Okanagan celebrates the region’s unique species and encourages stewardship of their habitat.
Maggie Chow’s 30 Vitamin N seals 30 watercolour grassland plants in capsules, like a daily dose of nature.
Plan your visit
Come see what happens when artists speak up for the land they love, and be inspired to do the same. The exhibit closes December 19, so bring a friend and come see it.
What: Artvocacy: Art for Vibrant Communities and a Living Planet
When: On now until December 19, 2026
Where: Gallery II and the Carriage House, Leir House Cultural Centre (Penticton and District Community Arts Council), 220 Manor Park Avenue, Penticton
Admission: Free and open to all
Keep speaking up for nature
The Artvocacy artists showed us that everyone has a voice for nature, whether it comes out through a paintbrush, a camera or a conversation with a neighbour.
At the exhibit’s opening during Artiverse, we asked visitors to finish one sentence: “One way to protect nature is to…” Answers ranged from “leave only footprints” and “help save the bees” to “teach children how to care for nature”. How would you finish it?
Join the CPAWS-BC email list to hear about new opportunities to speak up for the places you love, including what’s next for Artvocacy.
A huge thank you to the Artvocacy artists, to our mentors for guiding this first cohort, and to the Penticton and District Community Arts Council for their partnership.
