July 25 – September 6, 2025
Natural Light
The Art Incubator Gallery
Opening Reception for Members and Guests: Friday July 25th, 7 – 9 pm
Free admission
Madeline LeBlanc is an Edmonton-based mid-career visual artist who began creating art during a period of homelessness. She utilized resources available at the shelter, such as: craft paint, paper, and cardboard. Her journey from homelessness to artist was widely covered by CBC News and other media outlets and this experience solidified her artistic mission of promoting arts to the general public.
Her artwork serves as a commentary on accessibility within the art world. She conveys the significance of arts affordability and access whilst examining the representation of those who are typically excluded from the art world. By using household materials — often coded feminine — as the medium for her work, LeBlanc purposely exposes the imbalances existent within the art world both within gender and socio-economic class.
Natural Light is a body of work created during the global pandemic of 2021 and 2022, a period marked by profound isolation and extreme poverty for the artist. With no adequate financial resources for daily sustenance or traditional art supplies, LeBlanc turned to thrifted bedsheets and simple Crayola wax crayons and pencil — tools born from necessity rather than choice. In the face of hardship, LeBlanc sought to transform personal struggle into something conceptually compelling and visually stimulating. The resulting pieces feature fairies and floral motifs, serving as both a form of escapism and an act of resistance against the harsh realities of daily survival. Each drawing is infused with a longing for light, hope, and the possibility of a life beyond poverty.
Natural Light became LeBlanc’s first body of work to generate an income, offering not only financial relief but also a new sense of purpose. This conceptually and visually stimulating body of work stands as a remarkable testimony to the power of creativity to sustain human spirit, even in its darkest hours.
Artist’s Biography
Born in 1998 in Edmonton, Alberta, Madeline LeBlanc is a mid-career artist whose unique journey has shaped her approach to the arts.
Madeline’s art career began during a period of homelessness when she turned to art as a means of filling her time. She utilized the resources available at the shelter, such as craft paint, paper, and cardboard to create artwork. Her journey from homelessness to artist was widely covered by CBC News and other media outlets. This experience solidified her artistic mission of promoting arts accessibility.
Madeline’s artistic talents were nurtured by Natalia Mishchenko, a prominent visual arts instructor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kiev, Ukraine. With Mishchenko, she learned that drawing is a sense that has to be fostered without the use of measuring tools or references. This key advice has been integral in the development of her intuitive art style. Madeline has been awarded scholarships to attend prestigious academic arts institutions in USA, such as the Mason Gross School of Arts at Rutgers University in New Jersey and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Madeline LeBlanc is a recipient of the 2022 Edmonton Artist Trust Fund Award for her work documenting the Edmonton arts scene and promoting arts access to the broader community. She was also the runner-up for the 2023 Eldon and Anne Foote Award for her exhibition, Tween, which was featured at the WORKS International Art + Design Festival. In 2022, Madeline was nominated for the Canadian Sobey Award, which recognizes up-and-coming visual artists.
Madeline LeBlanc’s artwork is loosely inspired by biology — specifically, cell division and mutation — and draws from these scientific processes when creating her compositions. Her work is also influenced by science-fiction, cosmetology, fashion, botanical illustration, fairies, and humour. Madeline LeBlanc has exhibited her works at: the Esker Foundation, Art Gallery of Alberta, Latitude 53, the WORKS International Art + Design Festival and many other art venues.
Top Image: Mom’s Starry Night (detail), mixed media on bedsheet
Photo courtesy of the artist
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