{"data":{"id":"924c7d72-95ec-4201-a0a3-30d604a562ff","originKind":"SYNDICATED","title":"New Family Drugs Gallery rises out of accidental eviction","summary":"There’s plenty an art studio that’s had one last hurrah show after an eviction notice. But less common is getting the boot, then moving back in, then starting up a gallery to celebrate.\n\nBut this is pretty much what happened to form the brand-new Family Drugs Gallery, with its first-ever opening Saturday at 10233 97 St.\n\nOne of its eight studio-space artists, Erika Germain, explains.\n\n“There was kind of this whole fun mix-up where we got told that the space got leased to someone else, and we had to move out, and everyone moved out,” laughs the artist.\n\n“And then the day after, they were like, ‘Wait, why’d you move out?’\n\n“And it was this crazy misunderstanding, and the building owners let us move back in. We kind of renegotiated the rent a little bit, for the better.”\n\nEmily Carr BFA graduate Germain, coincidentally, occupies the same space me, Dara Humniski and Tandie McLeod rented month to month a decade and change back, over the now-empty Family Drugs spot, just east of the long-under-surgery Winspear Centre.\n\nRight on the edge of what I would call the actual arts district, with the Art Gallery of Alberta, Citadel Theatre and Stanley Milner Library – not to mention frequent art, music and even pop-up cinema venue Churchill Square literally visible out the windows – the studio gallery theatre producer Joe Shoctor used to own is well positioned at the edge of a lot of Edmonton’s trademark downtown dead space.\n\n“I think it kind of works in our favor,” says painter Lisa Bourque, another artist in the informal collective. “You know, it’s a landmark to help people find us and kind of remember our space. They’re like, ‘ Oh, I think I saw a sign that said Family Drugs, when I was going to the AGA.’ A reminder of that just down the block, there’s a little thing that’s happening, too.”\n\n“And I think it’s fun,” adds Germain, “that it’s like this is the breadth of arts organizations in Edmonton. You have the AGA right there, and then down the street you have us, which is very different. Both offer a lot of different kind of value.”\n\nNotably, ArtsHab housing is just to the south, while Co*Lab arts-centred community space is directly to the east.\n\nGermain is happy the studio-gallery injects a little more creativity into the neighbourhood.\n\n“I think a lot about when we were kind of in that conversation of moving back in, the building owner said something along the lines of like, ‘Oh, I like renting to artists because they’re the only people that want to come downtown,'” she laughs.\n\n“Like, I don’t think that’s true. Yeah, but I do feel like the arts is so important in downtown, and the artists care a lot about the space.\n\n“And I think that when you invest into it, it gets returned.”\n\nMoving from the macro to the micro and immediate, Saturday’s show starting at 6 p.m. is called Meet the Family, so let’s do that, starting with Germain.\n\n“In this show, I have a small ceramic kind of slab painting, a flat ceramic that goes on the wall, and it’s a translation.\n\n“A lot of my work, I do what I call translations, where I assign a color code. So each letter A is a specific blue. Each letter B is light green. So then there’s these kind of swirling lines that are translated texts.\n\n“I did this project where people participated by exchanging the names of loved ones, and then I made translations of all of their names, so it’s a translation of the name of a loved one.”\n\nBourque talks about her B. Kliban-summoning luminous animal on canvas.\n\n“I work all in oil painting, so I do big works, small works, and they’re all focusing on themes of materiality and memory,” she explains. “What I do is I paint figurines that I find, and I like to see how their animal-like innocence can also convey very human emotions and things that we don’t experience ourselves.\n\n“So it’s all just mostly about innocence, and how we can view these creatures from a human perspective, but not really know what they’re feeling on the inside. I like to paint them in sort of alien-like colors from a different world, putting them into these portals in the canvas.”\n\nThe other six painters and drawers in the show are Trevor Gray, Kaitlyn Konkin, Liam MacGregor, Evan Robinson, Jordan Rule and Tim Rechner, who also curates Metro Cinema’s gallery and is drummer for punk bands sKin and Paint Drying.\n\nEach of them is full of stories about their work, which besides the shared gallery room, will be up on the walls in the open studio setting.\n\nThe first show – 6-10 p.m. running through Aug. 30 – is just the studio renters, but will open up to other artists moving forward, as long as the month-to-month rent situation endures.\n\nAfter opening remarks at 6:30 p.m., at 8 p.m. local musician Rachel Burry will play, then DJ MILDEW will play some beats.\n\n“The main intent of the exhibit,” Germain notes, “is to introduce ourselves and the space more so than having a thematic resonance. But I definitely think there’s people that relate to each other.”\n\n“Yeah,” says Bourque, “and we kind of feed off each other being in the same space too. You’re seeing what each other’s working on, it definitely is a motivator.\n\n“When I see more people in the space, I want to come in and work more.”\n\nRechner, who’s worked in this studio space on his impressionistic energy whirls for ages, smiles at the new gallery’s name. “Family Drugs a cool name, actually, but it was kind of the name of the building.\n\n“I only went downstairs once or twice to buy a bottle of water,” he nods, “and now it lives on I guess.”\n\nfgriwkowsky@postmedia.com\n\n@fisheyefoto.bsky.social\n\nRelated Joy as resistance: Valerie June confronts chaos and crazy times with 'a little bliss' on new record\n\nReview: Broadway Across Canada's Clue a slice of comedic comfort\n\nBookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.\n\nYou can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun.","url":"https://edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/new-family-drugs-gallery-rises-out-of-accidental-eviction","imageUrl":"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/0618-you-family-2.jpg","publishedAt":"2026-07-16T22:07:02.000Z","sourceLabel":"Edmonton Journal Music","tags":["Entertainment","Local Arts"],"authorName":"Fish Griwkowsky","contentHtml":"\"Lisa

There’s plenty an art studio that’s had one last hurrah show after an eviction notice. But less common is getting the boot, then moving back in, then starting up a gallery to celebrate.

But this is pretty much what happened to form the brand-new Family Drugs Gallery, with its first-ever opening Saturday at 10233 97 St.

One of its eight studio-space artists, Erika Germain, explains.

“There was kind of this whole fun mix-up where we got told that the space got leased to someone else, and we had to move out, and everyone moved out,” laughs the artist.

“And then the day after, they were like, ‘Wait, why’d you move out?’

“And it was this crazy misunderstanding, and the building owners let us move back in. We kind of renegotiated the rent a little bit, for the better.”

Emily Carr BFA graduate Germain, coincidentally, occupies the same space me, Dara Humniski and Tandie McLeod rented month to month a decade and change back, over the now-empty Family Drugs spot, just east of the long-under-surgery Winspear Centre.

Right on the edge of what I would call the actual arts district, with the Art Gallery of Alberta, Citadel Theatre and Stanley Milner Library – not to mention frequent art, music and even pop-up cinema venue Churchill Square literally visible out the windows – the studio gallery theatre producer Joe Shoctor used to own is well positioned at the edge of a lot of Edmonton’s trademark downtown dead space.

“I think it kind of works in our favor,” says painter Lisa Bourque, another artist in the informal collective. “You know, it’s a landmark to help people find us and kind of remember our space. They’re like, ‘ Oh, I think I saw a sign that said Family Drugs, when I was going to the AGA.’ A reminder of that just down the block, there’s a little thing that’s happening, too.”

“And I think it’s fun,” adds Germain, “that it’s like this is the breadth of arts organizations in Edmonton. You have the AGA right there, and then down the street you have us, which is very different. Both offer a lot of different kind of value.”

Notably, ArtsHab housing is just to the south, while Co*Lab arts-centred community space is directly to the east.

Germain is happy the studio-gallery injects a little more creativity into the neighbourhood.

“I think a lot about when we were kind of in that conversation of moving back in, the building owner said something along the lines of like, ‘Oh, I like renting to artists because they’re the only people that want to come downtown,'” she laughs.

“Like, I don’t think that’s true. Yeah, but I do feel like the arts is so important in downtown, and the artists care a lot about the space.

“And I think that when you invest into it, it gets returned.”

\"

Moving from the macro to the micro and immediate, Saturday’s show starting at 6 p.m. is called Meet the Family, so let’s do that, starting with Germain.

“In this show, I have a small ceramic kind of slab painting, a flat ceramic that goes on the wall, and it’s a translation.

“A lot of my work, I do what I call translations, where I assign a color code. So each letter A is a specific blue. Each letter B is light green. So then there’s these kind of swirling lines that are translated texts.

“I did this project where people participated by exchanging the names of loved ones, and then I made translations of all of their names, so it’s a translation of the name of a loved one.”

Bourque talks about her B. Kliban-summoning luminous animal on canvas.

“I work all in oil painting, so I do big works, small works, and they’re all focusing on themes of materiality and memory,” she explains. “What I do is I paint figurines that I find, and I like to see how their animal-like innocence can also convey very human emotions and things that we don’t experience ourselves.

“So it’s all just mostly about innocence, and how we can view these creatures from a human perspective, but not really know what they’re feeling on the inside. I like to paint them in sort of alien-like colors from a different world, putting them into these portals in the canvas.”

\"

The other six painters and drawers in the show are Trevor Gray, Kaitlyn Konkin, Liam MacGregor, Evan Robinson, Jordan Rule and Tim Rechner, who also curates Metro Cinema’s gallery and is drummer for punk bands sKin and Paint Drying.

Each of them is full of stories about their work, which besides the shared gallery room, will be up on the walls in the open studio setting.

The first show – 6-10 p.m. running through Aug. 30 – is just the studio renters, but will open up to other artists moving forward, as long as the month-to-month rent situation endures.

After opening remarks at 6:30 p.m., at 8 p.m. local musician Rachel Burry will play, then DJ MILDEW will play some beats.

“The main intent of the exhibit,” Germain notes, “is to introduce ourselves and the space more so than having a thematic resonance. But I definitely think there’s people that relate to each other.”

“Yeah,” says Bourque, “and we kind of feed off each other being in the same space too. You’re seeing what each other’s working on, it definitely is a motivator.

“When I see more people in the space, I want to come in and work more.”

Rechner, who’s worked in this studio space on his impressionistic energy whirls for ages, smiles at the new gallery’s name. “Family Drugs a cool name, actually, but it was kind of the name of the building.

“I only went downstairs once or twice to buy a bottle of water,” he nods, “and now it lives on I guess.”

\"

fgriwkowsky@postmedia.com

@fisheyefoto.bsky.social

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