Three of my paintings from the Running on Empty series will be on view for the first time in Calgary for this curated exhibition. The opening reception for The Apothecary is April 17th from 6-9 pm at 106–107, 111 3 Ave SE Calgary Alberta. I look forward to seeing you there!
I wanted to put the word out that the paintings from my installation Life, a Creative Process (2021) will be making a brief pop up appearance between April 14th and April 18th 2026 in the Cupola Gallery on the 4th level of cSPACE Marda Loop in Calgary. The last time the paintings were on display was during Covid lockdowns, so the public were not allowed into the gallery to view the show. We did our best at that time to share videos and create a virtual exhibition, however this is the first time the public has the opportunity to see the pieces in person!
Artist(s): Debbie.Lee Miszaniec
Date: November 8 to January 24
Exhibition Space: Staircase Feature Exhibition
In-Person tour: Friday, December 12 at noon
On the surface, Debbie.Lee Miszaniec’s Earthly Delights is the height of temptation – luscious donuts, seductive cupcakes and feasts for the eyes and mind. She spends hours painting the golden flakes on the pastry, or a glistening fatty sausage. Debbie.Lee’s expansive banquet scenes reference historic foods, feasts, figures and artworks.
Stewing within the work deeply questions our contemporary obsession with food, diet culture and body size. Health and wellness ideas are conflated with images of thin and fit bodies. We use virtuous language in refusal, graciously declining the temptations of food.
“There are still health concerns for individuals struggling to balance the health consequences of obesity against the health consequences of long-term weight loss efforts. As someone coping with that legacy, I am challenging myself to talk about it through my work,” Debbie says.
Exhibition on to January 24th 2026 at the Art Gallery of St. Albert
Wouldn’t we all like a mini donut service? I started this painting at the Calgary Stampede last summer during my engagement painting live and meeting the public in the Western Oasis. Of course, the way I work these days I knew there was no way I would be completing it in that 2 hour session, especially since I did more talking than painting. Which is as it should be, plenty of time to paint back in the studio. Or so I thought. Turns out that painting larger than life triptychs exploring the life cycle of diet culture can definitely take over your life and studio. So January of 2024 finally saw the completion of this lovely little painting of the famous stampede midway treat, the Mini Donut, together with a vintage book of Robert W Service’s western poetry. Enjoy this compilation of progress pics below. Want to buy this painting? Let me know!
Besides being a little shout out to an OG conceptual artist, Joseph Kosuth, this photo represents the process I went through to create Restrained, a stuffed pear tied to its seat with measuring tapes, which you can see now at the Okotoks Art Gallery in What You Do To My Body (and Mind) until March 22nd 2024. Referencing Kosuth’s One and Three Chairs (1965) I’ve presented the real pear, the paper pattern made from the real pear, and the small scale model testing the pattern for the larger finished pear. Below you can see the pear in situ:
Check out Restrained in What You Do To My Body (& Mind) before March 23rd 2024 at the Okotoks Art Gallery:
