Hi, I am Kisa MacIsaac,
I am the creator and owner of Power of Painting – Workshops and Art by Kisa. I am Métis, a mother of three children, an artist, an Early Years Educator, workshop facilitator, and a lover of people, music and nature! I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Developmental Studies, and am an ECE III. I work by day supporting children and families through quality early learning and child care – a passion of mine, along with creative arts. Painting and making any kind of art is a powerful tool for my self-care, my connection to ancestors, my healing, my activism and my freedom. What I love about painting is that I am totally free – my stress disappears, I feel in balance and connected to spirit. The time spent painting is like time spent praying, or meditating…art is medicine! I love the feeling of just going with the flow, and I love getting to share this with so many awesome people in my workshops! Laughing and making unique and powerful works of art together – it’s so healing and fun, and I am so thankful to all who have painted with me. Let’s paint!
My partner and I, along with our little ones, live in Treaty 1 Territory – Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Light Bulb Moment
I have been making art for as long as I can remember, however, at the end of the year in 2014, it hit me that I had not made any art in years, (since 2011!) and essentially that I had forgotten something important about myself – I forgot that I was an artist.
I forgot I loved art
For my entire life, I believed that about myself. I have always really valued art and how good I felt when being creative. I always had a project on the go. However, sometime after becoming a mother and getting busy with work and life, I forgot that I loved to make art. And I realized it’s not good enough to say “I don’t have time for that anymore”.
Reclaiming Art
With this light bulb moment that I had not completed a piece of art in years – and that something was very wrong with that – came the realization that I needed to take action. I needed to reclaim something that I knew was missing.
So, after the two big kids were in bed at night, my third babe was then four months old sleeping next to me or in my arms – I got out the crayola paints that we had kicking around and started painting gifts for my friends in the evenings. I posted photos of some of my paintings on Facebook to share with my friends. Around the same time that I had started painting again, I attended a Train the Trainer for Traditional Family Parenting, with Janet Fox of Mahkesis Consulting.
Self Care and Art
As a Métis woman and mother, and also as someone who works with children and families in my career in ECE, I felt a calling to take this training. Luckily, I was able to bring my new baby with me. One of the teachings I received included beautiful ideas around self care, and using the Cree Medicine Wheel as a visual tool for healing, and the idea that creativity is something that can help us to feel in balance – physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I truly believe this – that being creative is one amazing way to care for ourselves, to fill our cup, to feel happy and nurture our spirit. I had an “aha” moment as I realized that the reason I was feeling so relaxed and wonderful was very likely due to the fact that I was spending time making art!
Not long after this two day workshop, I was asked to lead a painting class for a local parenting group at The Refuge. A friend of mine, who coordinates the program there, had seen my paintings on Facebook and thought that I would be a good choice to lead a paint class for the group. Terrified but excited – I said yes and on that beautiful day, did my best to help each person create a sky, moon, and branches, using any colors! I had amazing time with a wonderful group, with my baby wrapped on my back, sleeping for the entire time, music playing in the background. It was pure magic, I felt an energy in the space!
This was the beginning of Power of Painting workshops and my own type of “paint night”.
Through word of mouth, I kept doing more and more painting groups and self care through art workshops, wellness events and paint parties. The name Power of Painting came after an evening of brainstorming my new business with a good friend of mine. I wanted to share with others the many benefits to our health and the positive effect that painting has, also that is is fun and relaxing and can be a great tool for self-care. It made sense to me to have a business name that reflected how I was feeling and the reason I started this whole thing.
I feel truly blessed to be on this journey that I have been on, and that I get to get to share my passion with so many people!
Please contact me with any questions, for details and to book/plan your event. Thank you!