Through art, there can be a little bit of hope.

That's the goal of the Little Hope Art Gallery, which was on display in Kelowna, Dec. 2 and 3 at Okanagan College and UBC Okanagan.

The gallery is an exhibition of art created by Ukrainian children. The program aims to give children a few hours of escape and beauty amongst the horrors around them.

David Elley is the co-founder of Little Hope, and he brought along 20 pieces of art to the exhibition in Kelowna. Elley conceived of the idea of bringing the children's artwork across the world after meeting Ukrainian artists Nataliia and Yustyna Pavliuk.

"If you can even imagine what it was like to live in these western Ukranian cities like Lviv during the start of the war," Elley told Black Press Media. "Tens of thousands of women, children and adults all terrified. So many had come to these places to refuge."

Almost immediately, Nataliia and her daughter, Yustyna rushed to assist these Ukrainian refugees, to help their country and its terrified children. They brought their love of art to the traumatized children wherever they were needed. In hospitals, orphanages, and bomb shelters, during power outages and air raids, they delivered the peace and joy of creation through art.

"I went out to Ukraine in January and conceived of an idea to bring artwork from children out to the west and to show it and get people to pay attention to what is going on," Elley said. "I started fundraising and raised some money so that I can choose paintings that I can bring with me when I leave and go present across the world."

Elley calls the practice art healing. 

"It is art which saves us, as these kids are so very traumatized," Elley said. "The kids were asked to paint not of their experiences but of something that they remember, whether it be something that is beautiful or what they wish for, whether it is a hero that they know."

Elley described one painting of a dog, who is known as a hero in Ukraine as it sniffed out bombs. 

"These kids are aware of this and look for heroes in whatever they can during this tough time," said Elley. "My friend Nataliia said that the heart and the paintbrush are connected, and there is nothing in the way when the child paints."

Currently, Little Hope Gallery is showing at simultaneous exhibitions in Prague, Czech Republic and Warsaw, Poland.

"We run exhibitions as much as we can, and we have several planned in the new year now," Elley said. "The next place that I'm going to is the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh, as well as five places in the United Kingdom.

The original paintings are not for sale, but the prints are. You can learn more about the Little Hope Gallery, which is entirely volunteer-run, at