The creative force behind Chazou Gallery started well over twenty years ago when Canadian artist Tricia Sellmer traveled to France for a summer-painting sojourn. During the sojourn she was told that she must "study, compose and splash paint." This she did. She enrolled in art school, completed a BFA, opened Chazou , then a "back alley studio" that became one of the cultural hubs of her home community, participated in artist residencies and then went on to complete an international MFA in 2009. Four years later she was encouraged to open an art gallery. Sellmer agreed but only if the gallery's mandate followed her direction and assumed the name Chazou , a word coined by Sellmer during that early painting sojourn so many years ago. Chazou Gallery closed June 2, 2016, the moment her beloved partner's heart stopped.
Chazou Gallery was a private, contemporary art gallery located in Kamloops, British Columbia. Considered one of the cutting edge, contemporary art galleries in the interior of British Columbia, it exhibited contemporary Canadian and International visual artists.
The Chazou Art Gallery curated and rotated solo, group or collaborative exhibitions at least six times a year with many select works from emerging, mid-career and established visual artists. Its integrity and commitment to the dialogue of contemporary art provided audience members with a rigorous and well-grounded curatorial perspective within a warm and inviting setting.