Biography
Marlessa Ann Wesolowski is an artist with three decades of practice rooted in a deep belief that art, nature, culture, and care are inseparable forces - Saskatoon-based, she is shaped by family matriarchs, an artist father, and the vast prairie landscape she calls home.
Working with oil and acrylic on linen and canvas, Marlessa moves between the poetic and the political - bearing witness to beauty and tension, loss and renewal, and the quiet resilience of nature in a world in profound transformation. Her paintings invite viewers to notice what often goes unspoken: the hidden consequences of our choices, and the fragile, enduring interconnectedness of all living things.
Art and creativity, for Marlessa, have always been something to share, not confined to a studio. Since co-founding the Healing Arts Program at St. Paul's Hospital in 2005, she has served as artist-in-residence for over twenty years, guided by the belief that art and care are inseparable. She holds a Master of Arts in Expressive Arts Therapy from the European Graduate School in Switzerland (2019, magna cum laude). Her work is held in the Canadiana Fund Crown Collection at Rideau Hall and in private collections across North America.