The Kamloops Art Council is currently displaying Napcolors: An Art Exhibition, showcasing work by Charlie Napcolors, local artist and alum of the now-defunct TRU Fine Arts program. The exhibition features work from two ongoing collections that Napcolors has been creating since 2021.
The first collection, titled Into Illustrations, prominently features the recurring character, Nap. Without giving too much away, Nap is drawn simply yet still identifiable, with short, skinny arms and legs, and always wearing a long gown and a tall, pointy hat. The pieces within the collection create a fantasy world with different environments for Nap to experience and navigate.
One of the pieces, Into the Forest is composed of four black-and-white illustrations. In this piece, Nap begins a happy journey into the woods, but grows frightened as they realize they are being followed. Nap must confront the creature that follows them, which helps in overcoming their fear. Similarly, Into the Snow and Into the Sea both use unique environments to help Nap learn how to trust their instincts or tackle their anxieties.
I try to create it in a way where it feels like I’m capturing a moment. I want people to experience that moment.
Napcolor’s use of these metaphorical situations helps them mentally work through challenges in their own life. They see the character as both an extension of themself and a way for people to insert themselves into the paintings and illustrations. The simplicity of the character’s design helps Nap become a figure that is easy to see yourself in and relate to.
“I try to create it in a way where it feels like I’m capturing a moment. I want people to experience that moment,” Napcolors said. “It definitely helps so much. I like turning the feeling that I have into the character that I can help navigate through this situation less personally. I’m like, ‘What did this character do versus me actually being in a situation that I don’t feel like I can work through?’ I’m able to turn it into a fantasy world and think, ‘What will they do in this one?”
The second collection, called Circle Stories, features three paintings commemorating stories they were told growing up. The stories featured are The Frog and the Bear, Coyote Brings Food from the Upper World and How Crow Came to Be.
“I draw a lot of inspiration from children’s stories. Circle stories are ones I was told as a kid and a teen,” Napcolors said. “A part of it is me reconnecting with my culture. I grew up knowing my culture, and then there was a period in my late teens when I felt disconnected, just because I started to become disconnected from the community. There was a long period in university where I just wasn’t doing any work related to the fact that I’m Indigenous,” they said.
Napcolors started regaining their connection to their culture when TRU Indigenous Research reached out to commission a painting illustrating the story of A Coyote Brings Food from the Upper World.
“I was so reluctant to do it, but they really were like ‘we know you can do it and you know the story; why don’t you just illustrate it?’” They said, “That pushed me to start creating these works. It’s still very personal to me, just from a different aspect.”
When showcasing these pieces at exhibition openings or artist talks, they use the opportunity to share the stories with a new audience. “I plan to always showcase these paintings in exhibitions where there will be instances where I can tell people about them in person. That’s the whole idea. I want to be able to retell these stories with the painting as well,” Napcolors said.
What makes this exhibition memorable is how each piece is grounded by its meaning or message. “Storytelling is a big aspect of what inspires me to create what I do. Stories to me always feel like memories, and I want to be able to share these memories and build these memories with other people. Once they see my work, I love to think that it becomes a memory for them too, whether it be their interpretation of the work, or even the feelings they felt when they saw the work,” they said.
I don’t do perfectly straight lines, and I want it to look very human … I want people to see the brush strokes, to see the underpaintings … It looks like somebody made this.
These collections consist of black and white illustrations and bright acrylic paintings. Despite using the name Napcolors, their early work was often done in black and white with pen on paper.
“The mark-making of it has always been really important to me. I don’t do perfectly straight lines, and I want it to look very human. Even with my painting, I want people to see the brush strokes, to see the underpaintings and to see different parts of the process. It looks like somebody made this.”
This exhibition will be featured in the Vault Gallery of the Kamloops Art Council until Sept. 26, 2026.