ARTIST FEATURE Kenna Smith | Finding Bliss

Kenna Smith

FINDING BLISS

KEALY DONALDSON

BORN IN PORT ALICE, Vancouver Island, Smith grew up in Campbell River and faced many struggles during her teens and early adulthood. It was through Art Therapy that she connected her talents and began creating incredible, inspired pieces using ideas and concepts that arrived to her. Smith became consumed with all the art mediums, from paint to pottery; she really has found her bliss in creating and sharing her unique art style.

“Art has balanced me” Smith shares “and it definitely fills my soul. It is an outlet for my pain and I truly believe it’s a part of my calling in life”. Even though she failed Art in high school and was told to take up woodworking, she hesitantly began creating art throughout her recovery process. “The first project I participated in was a paper mache pig; it was not great,” she says, smiling and reminiscing. “But I carried on with the next project, and picked up a pencil and started drawing." Within six months of this process, she was an Artist-In-Residence at Eric Martin Pavilion, in Victoria. That first art project became the title of her second book, “Paper Mache Pig – Vibrations I See, Expressed Through Art” where Smith shares her personal Art journey to help others understand their own gifts.

Smith participated at the Eric Martin Pavilion for a year and spent eight hours a day, five days a week working in the Art Studio space. She was guided by professional Artists throughout her time In-Residence. Vancouver Island Health Authority distributes 80% of the art created, through this program, to other divisions. These ‘Shared Art Projects’ are placed in local hospitals and wards, allowing the work to receive viewing and accreditation. Smith was able to practice with different mediums and styles, with complete creative license. “It was a safe space for creating” Smith notes.

By her thirties, Smith was established in her art process. Influenced by Kwakiutl friends and families, she was producing a variety of content which included bright colours and flowers, similar to central and east coast (North American) First Nations. “I’m heavily influenced through people and stories; some are local First Nations from the North Island. The inspiration arrives to me and I create” Smith shares as we review her current portfolio of work. She adds that it is the gift of sharing and uses permissions and knowledge from Elders in her circle.

Smith is a member of the Canadian Arts Council and recently was a Feature Artist for ‘Make A Change Canada’ magazine and annual calendar in 2021. She has accepted an Artist-In-Residence position for 2023 at ‘La Plata’ in Buenos Aires, Argentina through the Canadian Arts Council. This residency also comes with a Solo Gallery Show starting next spring. Smith has also written and published four books and working on the fifth, scheduled to publish this fall. Smith is committed to supporting community and donates art to many charities and auctions. Organizations like Rotary and CFB Comox have benefited from Smith’s art donations and she adds that she loves to inspire people, sharing that barriers don’t mean you can’t move forward.

Smith has been hard at work putting a new comprehensive website together for all her talents “Find Bliss Here”, encompassing soul, spirit, mind and body. Based on the medicine wheel, her businesses are all by design and are available to benefit all different stages in life, healing and creating balance in people’s lives. She is also a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist and provides services online that are personalized scripts to help clients achieve their desired goals.

I’m heavily influenced through people and stories. The inspiration arrives to me and I create.

Smith’s art, books and services are all found online at www.findblisshere.com and part of her current body of work is on display at Compass Gallery + Gifts in K’omoks.

FLORA + FAUNA OF THE NORTHWEST COAST Vancouver Island Moths

LUNA LOISEAU-TREMBLAY

WITH THE WARMER DAYS of summer comes the evening buzz of insects taking advantage of the late sun to gather resources. A common sight around porch lights at this time of the year are moths, diverse and mysterious in their abstract patterns and habits.

While butterflies are the most obvious representatives of the order Lepidoptera, we tend to think of them as goodnatured and gentle, flitting about nectaring in pretty flowers, while moths often get a bad reputation for eating up our gardens and defoliating our fruit trees. An example of this is what many people refer to as the Cabbage Moth, whose larvae munches away at anything that is related to Brassicas, such as cabbage, broccoli and kale. The Cabbage Moth is actually a butterfly, called the Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae) and is indeed an exasperating introduction from Europe.

While many people are under the impression that it is difficult to tell moths apart from butterflies, it is easier than we think. Butterflies have antennae that are club shaped, with a long shaft and a bulb at the end, while moths have feathery or saw-shaped antennae. When it is time for a butterfly larva to pupate, it makes a chrysalis, which is generally hard, smooth and without a silk covering. A moth, on the other hand, makes a cocoon made of silk. While it’s true that moths are largely nocturnal, many species are day-flying, nectaring on plants like butterflies.

While butterflies are showy and attract more attention than moths, the latter makes up a huge proportion of the order Lepidoptera. Moths make up around 90 percent of the group, having evolved much earlier than butterflies, as early as the Jurassic period. Just as there are many species of butterflies that have developed a specific relationship with certain species of plants (such as the Monarch butterfly with Milkweed), there are also certain moth species that have developed intricate and specialized relationships with certain plant

Two of the most impressive groups of moths, in my opinion, are the members of the family Saturniidae and the family Sphingidae, otherwise known as the Giant Silk Moths and the Sphinx moths, respectively. Well-known moths such as the Luna Moth (Actias luna) with its 4.5 inch wingspan belong to the silk moth family. While there are a number of fascinating things to know about their life cycle, something that never ceases to impress is that the adults that belong to family Saturniidae only have vestigial or reduced mouth parts, meaning that they do not eat. These giant moths live for about a week, with the female putting out pheromones to attract the male, who may fly for long distances to mate after detecting the pheromones with his large antennae.

Although Luna Moths don’t occur on the Island, we have several impressive Saturniids that do. The Ceanothus silkmoth, Hyalophora euryalus, whose caterpillar feeds on many species such as alder, willow, and arbutus, is a regularly seen moth in our area, with an amazing wingspan of up to five inches. Another species is the Polyphemus Moth, Antheraea polyphemus; its transparent wing eyespots and six inch wingspan always impress. The caterpillars feed on a number of species, including maple, plum, cherry, willow and oak trees, using the leaves as a base for their cocoon.

In comparison to these showy silkmoths with reduced mouthparts are the Sphinx or Hawk moths which are well-known for their incredible flying abilities and their long proboscis which some use to probe flowers for nectar, some in daytime hours. The wing movements and nectar gathering habits of hawk moths get them often mistaken for hummingbirds. A common Sphinx moth that can be seen in this area is Hemeris thetis, the Rocky Mountain Clearwing Moth. The larvae of this species feeds on Snowberry, while the day-flying adults nectar on flowers from a variety of plant species. The transparent wings of this species are beautiful and it is easily identified in contrast to other moth species we have in the area.

For anyone that would like to learn more about our local moth species, Moths of Western North America by Jerry A. Powell, Paul A. Opler is a good reference source.

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