MOOSE JAW — This year’s Moostletoe Artists Spotlight is fast approaching and eight local artists will have an opportunity to showcase their finest creations, spread awareness of Moose Jaw’s artistic community, and perhaps a few early bird shoppers can also find the perfect Christmas gift.
Moostletoe will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23.
Tanya MacKay is one of the eight confirmed artists and will also be announcing the launch of her new business, Tanya MacKay Fine Art, which is set to launch on Tuesday, Nov. 12.
“Well, it’s my first time doing this (Moostletoe), so I’m excited to see who’s going to come, what people are interested in, and what they’ll buy,” she said. “Hopefully they enjoy my work….”
Moostletoe is a traditional fall event where local artists showcase some of their finest works, promote the artistic community, and guests are invited to meet the people behind these creations. The works range each year from paintings to pottery, jewelry, and photography.
Whereas the event normally includes a tour of each artists’ studio, organizers are trying something new this year by holding Moostletoe at only two locations — the artisaNGrounds studio and the nearby Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery.
Originally from Saskatoon, MacKay, her husband, and children have made Moose Jaw home for the past 10 years and she said they love their new home.
MacKay has always had a love for art. “(For) most of my life I’ve just been doing pictures, paintings for friends and family as a hobby, and it’s been a passion of mine my whole life.”
MacKay’s business will feature an online experience and she doesn’t currently have plans to host studio tours — which works well with Moostletoe’s new format this year.
Her current focus is on the creation of convincing, hyper-realist works. “Well, right now I’m primarily working with coloured pencils on paper, and I enjoy doing still life objects,” she said. “I’m primarily doing hyper realism projects as well.”
Her works are quite masterful. “My kids have looked at my pictures and tried to pick up the object off the piece of paper because they felt like it looked that real,” she said.
What’s impressive is that MacKay is almost completely self taught. “I’ve had a couple of classes in my life, literally,” she confirmed. “I took an online coloured pencil course (a couple years ago) with hyper realism, and I loved it. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the last two or three years.”
To create her works, MacKay simply goes about her day until she encounters objects that catch her attention and appeal to her creative instinct. “I’m like, ‘I would love to draw that. I love the way the light is reflecting off that, or I love the edges, or I love the shadows and the shapes.’” For MacKay, it’s usually something like autumn leaves or reflective surfaces that stand out the most. “I really enjoy capturing that (moment).”
For Moostletoe, MacKay plans to have some of her coloured pencil prints available for purchase along with a line of Christmas cards she’s been working on. She’ll also be participating in the hourly demonstrations and will guide curious onlookers through her creative process as she continues to work on one of her current hyper realism creations.
“I think (Moostletoe) is going to be a great event for people to come out and purchase some Christmas gifts,” MacKay concluded. “And I think… it’s an important cultural event.”
MacKay doesn’t yet have an online presence or other contact details for Tanya MacKay Fine Art, but once these channels have been created her plan is to create a Facebook page called ‘Tanya MacKay Fine Art’ and ‘tanyamackayfineart’ on Instagram.
The artisaNGrounds studio is located at 262 Athabasca Street East and the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery is located at 461 Langdon Crescent.
