2019 Homes by Avi Stampede Rotary Dream Home

At the end of 4 months of building canvases, planning, priming, painting and embroidering them, this is me with 38 paintings ready to take down to the Stampede Grounds to hang in the Dream Home.

In February 2019, I came across a Homes by Avi artist competition post in Calgary Arts Development. The post called out to all local artists to submit images of work that would fit the modern farmhouse theme in the upcoming Stampede Dream Home. The stars must have aligned because a few days later, I found out that I was the chosen artist that would have 30-40 pieces featured in the Dream Home, as well as more exposure than I could ever dream for. A few short weeks prior to this happening, I had stepped away from a waitressing job in order to “give it a go” at painting full-time. Being chosen as the Dream Home Artist gave me a huge bout of confidence and reassurance that I should continue down this path as an artist.

As part of being the Dream Home Artist, I had the opportunity to show a sample of a few works from the upcoming Dream Home collection at Gibson Fine Art. Thanks to my Mom and the Homes by Avi Team, there was a wonderful turnout at the exhibition and I pre-sold some of the first pieces in the collection.

Come Stampede (the 10 days of “yahoo-ing” and “yee-haw-ing”), I met up with many family and friends to proudly show them around the Dream Home.

To all of those who made it out to the exhibition, to the Dream Home, and followed/ liked my posts on social media (basically all the things that help support an artist), I am sincerely grateful.

I owe a huge thank you to Homes by Avi because, for over a decade, they have continued to reach out to artists within Calgary in order to showcase new talent. They truly have given me that first “break” in my career.

And finally, my biggest thank you goes out to my family and partner for their tremendous support throughout the entire experience.

-McKenna