Nadia Schenk & Mikylie Shapka

SEP 08, 2023 to SEP 30, 2023

We are delighted to announce our September Signature Artists are painter Nadia Schenk and multidisciplinary artist Mikylie Shapka!

Note: This is our first Signature Artist Series Exhibition of the season.

Exhibition will be on view at ACUA September 8 – September 30 during regular hours.

Gallery Hours
Tue-Thu 10am-4pm
Friday 2pm-7pm
Saturday 11am-3pm

ACUA
10554 110 Street
Edmonton

Nadia Schenk

Nadia was born into a family of artists. Her father was an iconographic, and also painted landscapes, portraits, and still life. Her mother also painted primarily landscapes. She grew up with the smell of oil paint in the house and original works of art on the walls. Nadia’s parents remain one of her biggest artistic influences as well as landscape painters Jim Davies and David Alexander. She has been inspired by Georgia O’Keefe for her innovation In compelling viewers to take a second look at ordinary feats of nature and she has been drawn to the work of contemporary Okanagan Valley landscape painters for some of the same reasons. Seeing Monet’s work in person worked the same wonder in her. Nadia has a UAlberta Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a Fine Arts Minor (1981) and a UAlberta Fine Arts Extension Fine Art Certificate (2002).

Nadia’s work is inspired by the beauty of God’s creation, whether that’s landscape or the human figure. Some of her work gets up close and personal, where she focuses in on a grouping of leaves and stems, or on a particular part of the human form. She would like the viewer to be able to come away with a sense of wonder at a humble portrayal of God’s creation.

Mikylie Shapka

Mikylie Shapka is a Ukrainian-Canadian emerging visual artist based in amiskwaciwaskahikan (Edmonton), Alberta, Canada. She is a recent graduate receiving a BFA from the University of Alberta and received her Fine Art diploma from MacEwan University in 2019. She has been a part of numerous local exhibitions including but not limited to; DC3 Art Projects, FAB Gallery, Colab Community Gallery and the Stollery Gallery. This is her first exhibit at ACUA.

Working primarily in painting, sculpture and installation, Shapka’s practice is rooted in her profound love and curiosity of the natural world. She tends to work through things conceptual, intuitively and through research based creation. Influenced by their Ukrainian heritage she focuses on folk patterns and the cyclical interconnected nature of the world and what she likes to call “sublime existentialism”.

The sublime existentialism is an artistic and philosophical movement that explores the essence of human existence, the mysteries of the universe, and the awe-inspiring beauty of the natural world. Aiming to create an experience that transcends the physical and emotional limitations of human existence and takes us beyond the realm of the visible. This exhibition presents a selection of contemporary artworks that embody the spirit of sublime existentialism and invites the audience to explore the profound and transcendent nature of our existence.

The artworks in this exhibition are selected for their ability to evoke a sense of community, reciprocity, and contemplation. They explore themes such as the mysteries of the universe, the transcendence of human existence, and the beauty of the natural world.