Two of the city's rising young stars in the arts are joining forces for a unique performance experience. Painter Kyla Morgan and musician Derek Joyce will combine their talents in a one-night-only special event they call For The Love Of Possibilities.
The idea first sparked in the mind of Morgan, who has been involved in past artistic mashups. A combination exhibition-concert with recording artist Corey Primus was highly successful last year, for example.
She was a fan of Joyce's music so when she contemplated an art show of her paintings, bringing in her longtime friend felt like a natural choice. He was happy to agree, since he has a new EP to show the world, to go along with his full-length album released in 2014.
"These were songs written about going through hard times and finding hope, being hard on myself and finding grace, and the people I find hard to forget," Joyce said.
Morgan called Joyce a "singer-songwriter-soulsearcher" and it's the latter part that is in strongest effect at the moment. The local performer is in China and comes back only hours before the Saturday event.
In the meantime, Morgan is putting the finishing touches on a set of new works. "I've been painting all summer for this," she said. "There will be two or three older paintings I love in the show, but I'll have 30 to 35 new paintings."
She will also have supplemental art for sale, in addition to the original paintings. She has created a line of greeting cards from her primary source material, plus miniatures made into jewelry. It allows for wider budgets to participate, and for family and friends who already have paintings to nonetheless go home from the event with some Morgan creations.
Her work leans into mixed-media, sometimes, and drawings, but the bulk of her efforts are in the medium of acrylic on canvas.
"I'm a little impatient," she said, as to why that is her chosen path. Oils take too long to dry, compared to the fast setup of acrylic paint. She also likes to quickly paint over mistakes or revise the image on the fly, which is harder to do with, say, watercolours, she said.
"Inspiration doesn't always strike when I wish it would," she said. "I see an image in my head and I get impatient to get the painting out on the canvas. And once I start I sometimes find it hard to stop. I'm up at three or four in the morning, sometimes. My employer doesn't love that."
She works a number of jobs to make ends meet, as a CNC student channelling into the dental hygiene profession. She was recently working at Northern Lights Estate Winery, now at The Keg, and also as a nanny. Her art exhibitions are another educational fundraiser.
"I was first taught to paint by my late grandfather, Lance Morgan. His zest for life and love of art inspires my creativity and love of nature," she said. Her grandfather passed away four years ago, but not before his beloved work as pastor and philanthropist earned him the rare Freedom of the City distinction.
Lance Morgan was also the patriarch of a family renowned for their musical skills. Many of his children and grandchildren can perform at the professional level. Perhaps that's why Kyla so greatly values music accompanying her art, because she did not attain those musical aptitudes. Her word of self-assessment was "mediocre" with an instrument.
"I'm more talented artistically than musically, at least in my levels of confidence," she said.
She knows her grandfather wouldn't have minded that.
"He used to pay us. When we were little kids, he'd buy our drawings and give us money to play music. He wanted to teach us that work had value, and art of all kinds was legitimate work," she said.
In recent days, the Morgan family set a headstone for their respected elder. It featured the image of a sparrow, a reference from one of his favourite hymns. She now has a sparrow in one of her paintings, as a subliminal honour to him.
For The Love Of Possibilities opens its doors Saturday at 7 p.m. at Artspace. Admission is $10, available at the door or in advance from Books & Company.
