“Three MsCreates – Friends of a Certain Age Making Myth & Magic” by Una Connor, Solange Belleforte, and Megan St. Michael in the KAC Main Gallery

30 May 2023 10:00 am

 

 

“Three MsCreates – Friends of a Certain Age Making Myth & Magic” by Una Connor, Solange Belleforte, and Megan St. Michael in the KAC Main Gallery

May 4 to May 30, 2023

Show Description:

Megan St. Michael, Una Connor and Solange Belleforte have been friends and collaborating artists for several years. Many “art playdates” in each other’s homes, sharing ideas over coffee and sharing tasty ideas from divergent sources has created a strong bond between them.
This show represents their individual interests in creating pieces using 3-D and 2-D mixed media images, felting, painting, pen and ink drawing and their shared interest in supporting each other’s creativity. Megan creates wonderful figural pieces and paintings with a dreamy floral focus. Una creates intricate felted pieces with a strong focus on forests and woodlands. Solange creates mixed media pieces representing the feminine in various forms, and pen and ink pieces based on bird forms and Zentangle techniques. We all hope you enjoy the show and find a favourite piece for yourself or as a gift or simply enjoy how our creative spirit has emerged from our interest in art and our friendship.

Artist Statement: 

“The French poet, Antoine de Saint Exupery said, “To be alive is to be slowly born.” This speaks to me of the mystery of the creative process and the surprise of what emerges forth from the union of my heart, brain, eyes and hands. To be creative is to participate in the birth of the universe.” ~ Megan St. Michael

“I was given two gifts at birth – a short attention span and a double dose of curiosity. This has led me down many highways and byways in the world of art, from collage through assemblage with stops at acrylic pouring, photography, pen and ink drawing and writing. My art is, therefore, eclectic and rarely follows a straight path. So now I am a Jill of Techniques, never really lighting long enough on, or going deep into any one medium so that I absolutely focus on one technique or theme. Perhaps that is the result of my short attention span, but I prefer to think it is a never-ending journey into the mysteries and possibilities of the practice of Art. For this show, I have focussed on larger mixed media pieces subtlety influenced by the Art Nouveau movement and smaller pen and ink drawings incorporating elements of Zentangle. My greatest joy is hearing someone saying “Well! Even I could do that”! when they look at my art. That means I have touched some creative source or realization within them that may produce an exciting and creative outcome for themselves.” ~ Solange Belleforte

Artist Biographies:

Una Conner
Una is a multi-disciplinary artist from Kamloops. She has a talent for combining found objects with traditional art mediums to create interesting pieces. Unable to stick to just one medium of art, you will see her style of work is creatively eclectic. She makes art for pleasure but will
sometimes sell her work.

Megan St. Michael
Megan began her creative life with formal training in photography and graphic art, and the lessons learned – light, shadow, composition, and design – inform her mixed media pieces now. She pursues her artistic vision by incorporating diverse media and approaches to using them. A lifetime of creative endeavour weaves its way through her career. She attended Vancouver School of Art, later known as Emily Carr University of Art and Design, and spent the next 15 years as a photographer and graphic artist Megan has never stopped creating, painting, landscaping and anything else that caught her imagination.

Solange Belleforte
Solange has been art-minded since middle school, but was discouraged by her art teacher, who invited her to wash off the green fish she was painting because “there were no green fish”. At that age, discouragement like this sliced deep and bled spirit, so Solange carried the message of “I am not an artist” for a long time. A few decades later, an inspirational art teacher introduced her to collage techniques, and because she only allowed constructive criticism in her class, Solange gained confidence and set out on her remaining lifetime journey of discovery into everything artful.

Their show will be exhibited in the hallway gallery from May 4th to May 30th, 2023.

View their upcoming show in our online gallery here!