Artist’s Bio
Mikena Kuzmienska is a traditional and contemporary artist working in acrylic paint and coloured pencil. She resides in Toronto, Ontario, where she produces realistic artwork with themes of florals, animals, and figurative pieces. She is currently enrolled at OCAD University working towards her BFA in drawing and painting. In addition to her studies, Mikena teaches children’s art classes at Messy Pants Inc (North York, ON).
Her work has been shown across the Greater Toronto Area, including Pancakes and Booze (Toronto, ON), The Toronto Art Crawl (Toronto, ON), and Next Generation Arts Fresh exhibition (Scarborough, ON). She also does commission work for clients including pet and family portraits, landscapes and florals.
Artist’s Statement
Mikena Kuzmienska works in acrylic paint on canvas and coloured pencil on paper to create realistic artworks following themes of nature and narrative. She explores themes of feminism, personal narrative, beauty, and naturality in her figurative and nature pieces.
To create her works, Mikena uses procreate and photoshop to collage and alter reference images into a new image. She then transfers the new reference onto canvas or paper to paint or draw. Mikena works very meticulously and slowly, paying attention to details and accurately portraying the subject matter in her work. For her paintings, Mikena works with multiple layers and glazing until reaching her final product. In her work, Kuzmienska uses aesthetics and personal intuition when brainstorming subject matter, and pushes to showcase natural beauty while being bright and bold with her choices in colour, style, and composition.
Recently, in works such as "Bioluminescence," Mikena has been exploring ] the natural world looking through the lense ofoversaturation and fluorescence, striving to push the boundaries of naturalreality through painting hyper-focused snapshots.
Artist’s CV
EDUCATION
2022-2026 OCAD University, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Drawing and Painting.
EXHIBITIONS
April 2025 Art Guild of Scarborough, Spring Art Show, Scarborough, ON
June - August 2024 Next Generation Arts (curator: Cai Bell-Jerome), Fresh, Scarborough, ON
ART FAIRS AND POP UP SHOWS
December 2024 Toronto Art Crawl (curator: Nadia Lloyd), Christmas POP UP, Toronto, ON
July 2024 Pancakes and Booze Art Show, Toronto, ON
March 2024 Toronto Art Crawl (curator: Nadia Lloyd), Spring POP UP, Toronto, ON
March 2024 Pancakes and Booze Art Show, Toronto, ON
WORK AND VOLUNTEER
2023-Current Messy Pants Inc., Visual Art Instructor, North York, ON.
2023 Taking Kids out of Poverty (TKOP), Visual Arts Coordinator, Toronto, ON
2018-2019 Studio on the Hill, Ceramics Volunteer Instructor, Toronto, ON