Canadian visual artist.
9 x 12 O/C
by Debbie.lee Miszaniec
Last week I was contacted by the City of Calgary, regarding the selection of one of my paintings to be enlarged and reproduced permanently on one of the transit shelters for the 17th Ave SE BRT public transit development. I am super excited to be working with the City on this and can’t wait to see what Pancake Breakfast looks like enlarged and in the public space! I will make sure to take and post pictures when this goes ahead.
I am pleased to say that the Sunflower Project is growing yet again!
The wish 150 Alberta Mosaic Sunflower has been selected by the Multifaith Action Society for inclusion in their 2019 Multifaith Calendar. The 2019 theme is Coming Together: Exploring New Connections. As the aim of the sunflower project is to create bridges of good will and the growth of positive action, I felt that the Sunflower Project would be a great fit for the Multifaith Calendar. I am also honoured to be recognized and included as an artist of no faith (by choice), by the inclusion of my work in the calendar.
” Founded in 1972, the Multifaith Action Society (MAS) is a Canadian registered charity dedicated to the facilitation of interfaith education and dialogue. For over forty years, MAS has worked to build bridges between the myriad cultural and spiritual communities that characterize British Columbia, and has collaborated on a wide variety of public education campaigns and initiatives that have affected positive social change while raising awareness of multicultural issues.”
I believe that the effort to promote understanding between cultures and faiths is a good and worthy one. Therefore I am happy to have the Sunflower Project featured in a fundraising initiative which will be supported by individuals who also believe in affecting positive social change across cultures and faiths.
I will make sure to let you know when the calendars become available for purchase!
Watch you in boxes!
Medium of Exchange is planning a 10 year anniversary show for January 2020.
Will we revisit our thoughts on the inspiration of the first exhibition; Margaret Atwood’s book Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth (2008)?
Will we create collaborative paintings, like each of the above, and auction them for charity?
Will we talk to our former selves, or give warning to those who come after? After all, hindsight is 20/20.
Who knows?
Certainly not us (yet).
I will give updates as the planning gets underway for this event.
In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed these images of the produce from that last great show.
I am pleased to announce the selection of five of my pieces for inclusion in the 2018 Calgary Stampede Western Showcase Art Gallery. Find the art at the Western Oasis on the Calgary Stampede grounds where the paintings will be on view and available for sale. If you are scheduling your visit, stay tuned for announcements regarding my participation in Artist InSite, the Western Showcase Art Gallery program set up to allow visitors to meet the artists and see them in action. I will post details and relevant links as they become available.
Taking it Global, the group behind the Canada Wish 150 Mosaic Project, has asked me to share a funding opportunity for Canadians between ages 15 and 30 to initiate and implement community building projects, from gatherings to gardens and beyond. Funding levels for projects range from $250 – $1500. Visit Canada Service Corps to learn more!
I happened to sit beside Debbie.lee and her friend as we made art at Rumble House one evening over a year ago. Towards the end of the evening, she mentioned she was an artist and told be about her website and sunflower project. I was intrigued and inspired! At the time, I had been doing some soul searching after being a stay-at-home mom for 5 years and having done a fair amount of artistic journaling that year as a way of expressing my grief after my Mom passed away in February 2016. I would look at the sunflower seed painting she sent me, pinned to the bulletin board above the sewing area I had created with my Mom’s sewing machine. And then the seed sprouted as I realized I could share artistic journaling with others. I started a Meet-up group called Artistic Journaling for Times of Transition and have offered 12 sessions. This is now sprouting and growing in other directions as I continue to share my gifts with the world. Thanks planting a seed, Debbie.lee!Artfully yours,Kelly Small
Anuj Agarwal, the founder of Feedspot, contacted me recently via email to let me know they have selected my blog as one of Canada’s top 25 art blogs. Feedspot ranks a number of different niche blogs in Canada according to search engine and social media popularity as well as quality and consistency of posts. They also refresh results weekly and offer to send updates from top blogs direct to subscriber inboxes.
Cool, thanks Feedspot!
Saturday, March 10, Sunday, March 11
11:00 AM-2:00 PM
FREE with paid admission to Gasoline Alley Museum
The Canada West series are a group of oil on canvas paintings created by artist Debbie.lee Miszaniec. The works revisit early 20th century Canadian advertising posters that were intended to encourage immigration to the Canadian West. Each painting interprets the source image through juxtaposition, modification, or both. Debbie.lee is a life-long painter, a student of art history, culture and society. Visit the Journey of a Lifetime exhibit and join the artist for a session of informal dialogue and gain insight into this colourful and insightful series of paintings.
This is a quick announcement to let you know that March 10th and 11th 2018 between 11 am and 2 pm I will be at Heritage Park’s Gasoline Alley giving mini artist talk/tours about my Canada West paintings and how they relate to their exhibition, Journey of a Lifetime. The talks are not posted to the website yet, but will be free with admission to the exhibition. Find out more about the exhibition here.
Last week I talked about my reasons for revisiting a painting, so I won’t go into that much here. What I will talk about, are the changes I made to this one, and why.
Amoung the many funny things I could be entertained by in this antique image of the west, one of the things that kept happening as I looked at it, was my increasing identification with the contested object of the narrative. The bull is trussed up and appears to be at risk of being re-branded by cattle rustlers. Our hero and heroine have happened upon this scene and have rushed in to defend the bull from the cattle rustlers. But they are not defending the bull, they are defending property.
It appears that when the image was made the bull clearly resided in the realm of objects which are owned, and can be stolen. Stella (who in marriage would have been classified as chattel herself) stands on the bull like a piece of furniture. Today, the bull is both an object to be owned and a being which needs to be humanely cared for. Though the bull is the centre of attention, no one bothers to ask whom he prefers to go home with. So I decided to give him a voice.
