Category: Events

Exhibitions, Shows, Talks, Tours…

New Project Announcement! Earthly Delights – 10 Still Life Paintings in Places

Preliminary Drawings, & me on location taking reference photos.

I’m on location here taking reference photos at Reader Rock Gardens in Calgary for my new project, Earthly Delights – 10 Paintings of Food in Places, funded by an individual artist project grant from Calgary Arts Development.

As some of you know from reading earlier posts about the development of my Cravings series, I (intentionally) lost more than a third of my body mass in the last decade. Despite the many health benefits, there are other physical and psychological results of this journey which continue to make maintaining a healthy weight a challenge.

Earthly Delights is about exploring that journey through the genre of still life painting. This project juxtaposes the still life within places to speak to the dilemmas presented by our cultural fascination with food, health and body image.

If you have a story to share about your own experience with health and diet culture, I would love to hear from you

Stay tuned to see the development of the project here, on my Facebook and Instagram channels, or subscribe to my Newsletter!

At the completion of this project I will be proposing exhibition opportunities for Earthly Delights. If you represent or know an organization which would be interested in exhibiting the work publicly make sure to get in touch with me.

Collaborating with Kitchen Feminism: Not Enough Cubicles Here

Starting from the observations of writers that women’s roles have been in some ways rolled back to the expectations of an earlier era due to the effects of pandemic lockdowns and school closures, the Kitchen Feminism project asked a diverse group of women to reflect on the ways they perceived their own lives to have been sent back in time by the pandemic:

Mom I need this space for my zoom meeting!
From the Kitchen Feminism Project, courtesy producer Dawn Van de Schoot, photographer Shannon Smith and stylists Nicole Does Makeup.

Below are sketches of some of my ideas for this collaborative project which brings the individual stories of women’s experiences of Covid-19 to life in a series of photographs and short videos produced by Dawn van de Schoot. My drawings reference Jane Austen, Peg Bundy, and a painting by Marie-Denise Villers, Portrait of Charlotte du Val d’ogees, c. 1801, which depicts the subject drawing beside a window with a broken glass.

  • Temporal Dislocation
  • Peg’s Secret Life
My idea sketches for Not Enough Cubicles – Moving Pictures, Kitchen Feminism Project

As someone who has long occupied a home studio, I suddenly found myself with a house full of people all trying to work from home at the same time. It felt like I was living through the clash of two eras: heretofore I’d had to consciously contradict the contemporary suspicion that the stay at home worker is a Peg Bundy ala 1990’s sitcom Married With Children. However now I was faced with the bizarre condition of having a sudden spike of interest in my work, with all the demands that come with that, while also having to keep up an appearance of not working, ala Regency era writer Jane Austen, for the sake of my co-habitants working in a variety of remote/zoom configurations in the same space. Looking back, it’s a little comical.

If Jane Austen were working through the Covid-19 pandemic she may have had some advice for us on how to get work done while not having a room of ones own to work from. Photo from the Kitchen Feminism Project, courtesy producer Dawn Van de Schoot, photographer Shannon Smith and stylists Nicole Does Makeup.
Kitchen Feminism. Ink on Paper. In the theme of history and women trying to get their work done under adverse conditions, I chose to start this investigation into the art of Clara Peeters, 17th century Flemish still life painter, while on set for the project. See my blog post about the drawings.

I am excited to share how @dawn_vandeschoot, photographer Shannon Smith and stylists @nicoledoesmakeup and the rest of the team @kitchenfeminism translated my experience into their medium. The project images for Kitchen Feminism: Moving Pictures are now live on their website at Kitchen Feminism! I’ll also be sharing some of the images from the project on my Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Ready For It? The 2022 Calgary Stampede Starts Tomorrow!

Pictured here: Cupcake, framed and ready to hang.

My paintings will be there, framed and ready for you to purchase. Take a look at the gallery below to select your favourite, then head down to the Western Oasis on the grounds to pick yours up before it’s gone. Access to the art show is included in park admission.

Western Showcase Mini Masters Salon
Calgary Exhibition & Stampede 2022

July 8 – 17th 2022
Calgary Exhibition & Stampede – Western Oasis – Art Show
1410 Olympic Way SE Calgary AB T2G2W1

 Butter Tart, Cinnamon Roll, Cupcake, Lemon Bar, Maple Cookie, and Strawberry Shortcake
Each 5” x 7” oil on canvas is CAN$ 250 framed.

In The Gallery: Arts Aqui

Can’t wait for Stampede, when a hot half dozen of my treat paintings will be available to purchase in the Mini Masters Salon Art Show at the Calgary Exhibition and Stampede (see my blog post about it here) ? There are four of the Cravings paintings available to purchase now, framed and ready to hang at Arts Aqui in Calgary’s charming Marda Loop neighbourhood.

Nanaimo Bar, 6” x 8”, oil on canvas, CAN$ 350 framed
History Lessons, 8” x 10”, oil on canvas, CAN$ 495 framed
Butter Tart, 6” x 8”, oil on canvas, CAN$ 350 framed
Containing Desire, 10” x 8”, oil on canvas, CAN$ 495 framed

Event: Western Art Show (& Sale)

Western Showcase Mini Masters Salon
Calgary Exhibition & Stampede 2022

July 8 – 17th 2022
Calgary Exhibition & Stampede – Western Oasis – Art Show
1410 Olympic Way SE Calgary AB T2G2W1

The Cravings Series will be in attendance: 
Lemon Bar, Cupcake, Cinnamon Roll, Strawberry Shortcake, Maple Cookie, and Butter Tart
Each 5” x 7” oil on canvas is CAN$ 250 framed.

Dust off those boots and head down to the Stampede grounds for your dose of western fun, food and culture. Access to the art show is included in park admission.

The Covid Chronicles & Cravings Paintings at Arts Aqui

Do you love shopping local, visiting physical galleries, and seeing new art in person when you collect? Well then I have good news for you! I’ve just framed up and dropped off a couple of my Covid-19 drawings and Cravings paintings at Arts Aqui in Calgary.

  • A Good Shepherd
  • Guardians
  • Buttertart
  • Nanaimo Bar

Let’s show our local galleries some love! Stop in, view the art in person and build your collection.

Arts Aqui hours are Tue – Sat: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. and they are located at:

1909, 34th Avenue SW (Marda Loop)
Calgary, AB
T2T 2C2
Canada

Limited Time/Limited Edition: A Fun Money Holiday Promotion

It’s better than an NFT: you can actually hold it in your hand. Better than cryptocurrency: a truly limited number of coins, less damage to the environment, and again, you can hold it in your hands. What is it? It’s Fun Money: Unwrapped, a limited edition of 10 hand painted signed and numbered sculptures.

Fun Money: Unwrapped. Sculpture. Edition of 10. 2021. 4.5″x5.5″x 1″

And guess what? While valued at 95$ CAD each, this is a numismatic offer you can get in on for free for a limited time only.

For the holiday season, now until January 1st 2022, I am partnering with Abstract Art Canada (whom I introduced you to last month) to give away 1 of the edition of 10 with each purchase of one of my paintings through Abstract Art Canada.

  • Guilty Pleasures 18″x18″
  • Down Flow 18″x18″
  • Wiggle 1 8″x8″
  • Peacock 18″x18″
  • Pop 6″x6″
  • Wiggle 2 8″x8″
  • Decorative 18″x18″
  • Up Flow 18″x18″

Visit Abstract Art Canada and purchase one of my paintings from the Fun Money collection before January 1st 2022 to receive one of these original sculptures and aids to unwrapping your own feelings about money.

A New Partnership with Abstract Art Canada.

As of November 2021 I am excited to be showing my Fun Money series of abstract paintings alongside the artists of Abstract Art Canada.

Fun Money: Can I Lick It? (Guilty Pleasures), Debbie.lee Miszaniec

This autumn I was invited by artist Jim Ulrich to show my abstract art through a new art e-commerce venue, Abstract Art Canada. I was impressed by the small and targeted selection of artists represented through Abstract Art Canada, the focus on learning more about the artist, as opposed to being just another sales portal, and the truly supportive interaction with the Abstract Art Canada team!

Check it out, make a purchase, support Canadian Art and let yourself be transported out of your everyday, without even leaving home!

Buy art for yourself, for your loved ones, for your very good friends this weekend!

  • Saskatoon Berry Pie, 6″x8″ o/c
  • Cupcake, , 6″x8″ o/c
  • Cinnamon Roll, , 6″x8″ o/c
  • Nanaimo Bar
  • Butter Tart
  • Cowboy Coffee by Debbie.lee Miszaniec
    Cowboy Coffee O/C 9 x 12 Debbie.lee Miszaniec
  • Pancake Breakfast
    9 x 12 O/C
    by Debbie.lee Miszaniec

I’ll be at the Beacon Original Art Sale this Sunday from 10-4 with a selection of my Cravings paintings available to purchase. And guess what, if you are worried about framing, don’t be, All of my paintings are framed, wired and ready to hang!

To keep it all Covid-19 safe we will be participating in the province’s vaccination exemption program, so don’t forget to bring your mask and vaccine proof or recent negative Covid-19 test, along with your Christmas nice list. See you soon!

Medium of Exchange Closing Reception Livestream

So I’d love to say the livestream gallery tour and Q&A went off without a hitch however that anyone who managed to catch it would know that was not the case.

While the gallery tested it earlier in the day and it worked at that time, when the actual time of the event was upon us we were not able to stream the event from the gallery page.

This necessitated about a half hour of frantic typing and texting and posting to cancel the scheduled event and create a new one on the galleries programming page and redirect viewers to the new event.

I managed to post redirects for anyone coming to the event through links from my One Life Fine Art page or my personal profile, however I am certain we lost a few people along the way. Such are the trials of the novelty of staging events while dealing with Covid-19.

For anyone who missed it, you can see a recording of the event below: