Local artist makes her mark on Niagara Centre MP’s Welland office

Local artist Megan Bennett wanted to make a statement with her latest mural on the front window of Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey’s constituency office in Welland.

In the end, she wound up making two – showing support for the Ukrainian community by showing their flag’s blue and yellow but at the same time, making it an Ode to Spring with a clear blue sky and bright yellow flowers.

Working in tandem with the office team, notably Gail Todd, she told insauga, “We were already planning a spring (themed) window but then when things got horrible over there, we wanted to acknowledge what’s going on in Ukraine, as well.”

With a nod to “Gail and the team” in the office, she said they collectively decided a flag might be “too literal” and created, instead, a two-in-one nod to both on the humongous East Main Street front window of Badawey’s office.

The artist got what she needed – “two warm days in a row” – and she was off and painting. She admitted that working outside on a ‘canvas’ that size attracts a lot of attention.

“Whether they are walking by or driving by, people seem to slow down” captivated with the artistic process. “Lots of people love to stop and talk, just being friendly, offering support and that feels pretty nice,” she admitted.

Left, an earlier piece Bennett did for Vance Badawey’s office. Right, the artist at work.

Bennett has been doing murals on Badawey’s office window for the “past three or four years,” she said but is in fact a bit of a Renaissance Woman, spreading her talents over a number of different skills.

She is a yoga instructor at Stream Yoga + Meditation in Port Colborne, a barista at Station 1 Coffeehouse in Grimsby and has her own small business Peace of Heart Yoga and Art, also in Grimsby that combine two of her loves.

That she is teaching yoga at all is something of wonder. At one point, she got injured badly enough that she needed a spinal fusion, complete with titanium rod in there now, so her movement has been and likely will be a work in progress for a while. That said, she has more than enough to teach yoga despite some fluidity limitations.

She noted that while rest is occasionally needed (just as it is for us all), she keeps busy teaching yoga, walking her dog, painting and working at the coffee shop.

As mentioned, she’s something a Renaissance woman… but with both a will and back of steel.