McKenna Prather

McKenna creates detailed paintings of plants, animals and landscapes using acrylic paint and embroidery on stretched canvas.

Since graduating in 2018 with a BFA from Alberta University of the Arts, McKenna has worked as a fulltime artist. She is currently represented by Gibson Fine Art Gallery, Art Gallery Kimberley, and was selected as the Homes by Avi Stampede Rotary Dream Home Artist in 2019 and again in 2023. She has sold work through locally owned businesses and events like the Calgary Stampede, Red Door Home Living, Maillot Homes, Sparrow Artspace, Amanail Boutique, FivePoint and the Calgary Home Show. Private Collections of her work and a social media following continue to grow throughout Canada, the U.S. and U.K.

Painting from a Calgary-based home studio or at live events, McKenna creates custom commissions and collections largely inspired by the changing seasons and the landscape of the two provinces she calls home: Alberta and Newfoundland. Her representational style is informed by traditional portraiture and still-life paintings through her compositions and high contrast colour palettes. Furthermore, elements of folk art are dispersed in each piece through her use of hand-painted pattern or whimsical details.

McKenna brings care and consideration to every step of creating her paintings, valuing traditional mediums and methods. Her hand-made canvases are complimented by meticulous patterns she adds to every painting edge and finalized with hand-stitched embroidered details. Once she completes a painting, McKenna lays it flat and stitches directly into the canvas using a needle and embroidery floss, creating a world of paint and thread that is rich in texture.

This mixing of mediums bridges painting and textile art in a way that feels contemporary as well as time-honored. In a sense, McKenna’s work is process based, valuing detail and doing things “the old-fashioned way” in an attempt to honor the fellow artisans in her family who are gifted in crafts like needlepoint, quilting and woodworking. These people have inspired McKenna’s work the most through their patience and skill that craft humble materials into something beautiful.