The MUSE: Celebration exhibition opens up an entertaining, interactive space at Union Gallery, combatting the stress of midterm season.
Running from Sept. 23 to Oct. 12, the exhibition can be found in the Project Room at Union Gallery. Curated by MUSE’s Arts Editor Carolyn Kane, ArtSci ’25, the exhibition features five new art pieces created by MUSE’s Head Illustrator, Sydney Hanson, ArtSci ’25, displayed on the gallery’s walls. The exhibit aims to serve as a celebratory tribute to MUSE Magazine’s past and present issues, particularly highlighting the work of online contributors, whose contributions may often be overlooked.
Union Gallery’s Project Room is decorated with tinsel for the exhibit, to emphasize the exhibit is a celebration, with a mirror against the wall to create a make-shift photo booth. Past MUSE Magazine issues line a shelf for viewers to grab a copy—theirs to keep for free.
Attendees are invited to participate in MUSE’s vision by interacting with the exhibit. “Interacting with the exhibit makes you feel like you’re a part of MUSE, and you get to put something towards the gallery,” MUSE Magazines’s Editor in Chief, Rhea Matharu, Comm ’25, said in an interview with The Journal.
Along the wall, there are papers taped up asking three questions: What makes you happy? Who’s your muse? And what’s your favourite thing to celebrate? Markers are supplied to encourage viewers to write down their answers and engage with the exhibit.
Kane hopes the exhibit inspires gratitude and celebration in all areas of life.
“I wanted people to be able to fully interact with [the exhibit] by writing an answer to one of our prompts and grabbing a magazine. The prompts are all simple things, but I think they are stuff we don’t reflect on enough in daily life,” Kane said in an interview with The Journal.
Kane describes herself as Hanson’s second biggest er—besides Hanson’s mother. Kane trusted Hanson fully in representing her own creative vision. “With this exhibit, I want to be celebrating everyday life. It doesn’t need to be something big, just celebrating the everyday, and that’s what I told Sydney when it came to creating the paintings,” she said.
Hanson shared her paintings for the exhibition were intended to represent positivity and fun. The paintings include a swan, hands, two paintings of flowers, and a birthday cake. The paintings shared the silvery bright colour scheme of the exhibit.
Since all five paintings were created specifically for the exhibit, Hanson used a consistent colour palette throughout.
“With these works, I created them all at once and would go back and forth between them in order to be cohesive. If I introduced the yellow for the cake, I would go back and add the yellow to the other pieces as well,” Hanson said.
Using the Union Gallery space and encouraging student participation was important for the exhibition.
“MUSE embraces all creatives and Union Gallery shares the same values. Union Gallery has a strong connection to the Queen’s community, so I felt our values really resonated there,” Matharu said.
Watching the pages on the walls fill up with answers each day is very rewarding for the MUSE team, as Matharu and Kane both stated, as it shows how much we have in common as humans and highlights a deep, meaningful appreciation for the little things.
For the team, being involved in MUSE has been a creative escape from their academic obligations. Matharu shared how, as a commerce student, being a part of MUSE Magazine has allowed her to engage with her creative side.
Hanson discussed how illustrating for MUSE has encouraged her to make art for art’s sake and for sheer amusement and enjoyment.
“As a fine arts student, art is very serious. It was nice to make something fun, it was a break from my studies and therapeutic in a way,” Hanson said.
MUSE Magazine and their current exhibition offers a fun, vulnerable outlet for students. “Life’s hard. University is hard. Mid are hard. It’s lovely to be able to have a break from that, even just for a bit,” Kane said.
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