Former animator and now full-time visual artist Megan
Majewski is bringing her odd critters and haunting worlds to the Saint-Germaine Café.
Her latest work, Beautiful Monsters, is launching with an opening at the Café on June 23 from 5 to 9 p.m.
The Vancouver artist, originally from Cranbrook, has worked on popular TV shows as an animator including working on the visual effects for Battlestar Galactica and films like I, Robot.
She left the animation world seven years ago to work on her art full-time, noting that her time working on Battlestar Galactica feels like a “another lifetime.”
“I really did enjoy animation, but now that I am painting, I am my own boss. I get to create the images and stories that I want to. It is more fulfilling creatively and I feel a much greater passion when I am painting and bringing my own creations to life,” Majewski said.
Those creations include the cute-yet-creepy (as she said her work is often described) subjects of Beautiful Monsters.
“I love painting my ghost-like forests and odd creatures, but I really wanted to push myself a little further for this show,” Majewski said. “I’ve taken animals and combined them with other animals, or added too many eyes and even given some day eyes and night eyes.”
She took some inspiration from a recent trip to the revealing, world-famous human body cross sections from the Bodyworlds exhibition.
“I think that’s what inspired me to slice open some of these animals so you could see what is inside of them. My paintings being much more whimsical and less shocking than body worlds though,” Majewski said.
Vancouver-based artist Kristian Adam will be part of the exhibition as well, with music provided by Okanagan folk-jazz musician Tavis Weir.
If the Beautiful Monsters opening is not enough for art lovers, the event is part of a double opening with the Tumbleweed Gallery hosting an opening across the street. The Motive exhibition opening runs from 5 to 8 p.m. Motive features the latest works by eight different artists.
For more information call the Saint-Germaine Café at 250-492-0060 and the Tumbleweed Gallery at 250-492-7701.