Community Murals

Loughery is extremely proud of the hundreds of murals she has created and the thousands of youth that were part of her projects, with a ripple effect that has far reaching success in the mural movement of today. Loughery’s WAYFINDER murals are talking walls, stories told in paint, with every brush stroke a part of a conversation between all members of the community.

Now she brings those stories to the digital wall. Climb her podcast scaffolding and hear the art. Take her podcast on the road with you to DESTINATION MURAL TOWN and let the walls talk and maybe even sing!

What they have to tell you will inspire you to know more.

Loughery’s Studio work is where she pushes artistic boundaries with the encaustic mixed media works that are part of her evocative contemporary works. Studio work is where Loughery uses pigments and beeswax to layer her palimpsest layers into contemporary pieces that are highly sought after by collectors world-wide.

AR:T ROUTE RADIO PODCAST

See and hear the art on Loughery’s podcast AR:T ROUTE RADIO.

Loughery speaks with Artists taking creative skills and social change art to the wall in podcast stories, that will inspire you to learn more about the power of community art and the Wayfinder creative way that can support mental health in us all.

WAYFINDER AR:T PROJECT

Loughery has been influencing Public Art for decades and leading communities to support creative economy infrastructures, while providing social solutions and tourism legacies world wide. Her innovative Wayfinder Project- ARTworks in action creative trade and talent based employment training program is an award winning inclusive bridge for an art based alumni of life learners. .

Artist Loughery has a reputation for strong creative, and critical strategic foresight and insight, research and infrastructure analysis. She is a respected thought leader and innovator in the development and implementation of actionable national, regional, and local art policy and projects, community art strategy and plans to support arts and cultural organizations, creative placemaking, and creative culture-led regeneration. Master mind of the Wayfinder Rural Creates model and a connected Destination MURAL TOWN Augmented Reality – WAYFINDER AR:T ROUTE mapp tour.

Experiencing the projects behind Michelle Loughery’s Bold Murals & Artwork

British Columbia , Canada based artist, Loughery’s work stretches from massive mural portraiture to multi layered evocative, abstract and figurative encaustic studio work. More than three decades ago, as Loughery’s artwork began to include youth trades programing and community skills training, to grow community projects in scale that entire communities were rebranded, and recreated in her collaborative creative placemaking work. 

Born and raised in a rural coal town, the artist began to recognize a certain satisfaction she felt when working at a larger scale, and when youth and seniors from the community were engaged in the experience. From heritage themes, international music star themes, youth social change murals and crime prevention mental health projects, the art form would become integral to Loughery’s artistic exploration.

Inspired by those that challenged the systems, two key attributes behind the design of the Internment Canada Sunflower Mural, Loughery created a colorful massive piece, named “The Sunflower Project’ as tribute to the men and women interned in Canada during world war one. Loughery’s great grandfather and grandmother were effected by this Canadian injustice. Loughery is not unfamiliar with either injustices and challenging social systems ; she’s embraced both through the development of her indigenous youth Wayfinder ArtWORKS Projects and during her career she’s challenged the government and community systems to support youth inclusion and skills building  in the process behind each work and global project she has created.

Loughery muses “The work must make bold statements. Both visually or historically. Not always a positive statement, but one that invites people into the view. It is astounding to me that I painted so much of the past, talking to the people who experienced it, while painting in the present, teaching youth that would be leaders of tomorrow. The art itself a time machine.” If it does not have a bold impact right from the start, it can be easily dismissed. The art must celebrate diversity and unsung heroes. 

Loughery’s studio artistic work began in the studio long before she painted outside. But her mural work and her studio work are both approached the same. Her murals are approached as a massive fine art pieces, never mapped or gridded. Loughery’s encaustic work is multi-layered and her process of taking away layers to reveal the work beneath the surface, tells of the work she is prepared to do in the development of the medium she creates from the bees wax and pigment waxes she hand makes. Loughery has developed a visual language through her combined multi-media work and has moved beyond being a technical painter into a place of intuition and expression.  

Her encaustic paintings  are an expression of bold mark making, energy and the melting of layers to reveal thoughts of the work hidden in the thoughts of the experiences of the walls and characters she met along the way.  Loughery speaks of her memories in her portrait work and many familiar faces appear in the large striking pieces.

Loughery has with work in collections across the Globe. Loughery’s Encaustic and large contemporary portraits are widely sought after. Her work for her 9/11 Tribute Mural can be found in the Smithsonian in New York City.

AWARDS of note