Lux Mcleod

Calgary, Canada

Born Samantha McLeod, and later adopting the name Lux, she is a 32-year-old Métis artist native to Alberta, and a first generation Canadian with family immigrating from Czech Republic. Lux is a mainly a self-taught artist that was inspired by her mother, who attended art school in Czechoslovakia, and regularly encouraged creativity throughout Lux’s early life.

Lux is a woman that is full of smiles, laughter, and a love for life which would never be seen as an indicator for the number of steep hardships she’s had to overcome like childhood poverty in a single parent home, teen drug addiction, and a heavily abusive partnership. All of which is what called her to rise above her adversities and start creating the beauty she wished to see in the world, and in turn stimulated a deep internal healing process that galvanized her spiritual exploration.

In her youth Lux was captivated by surrealism, but over the years has drawn more inspiration from the natural world and galactic imagery. The celestial scenes in Lux’s works are inspired by the idea that every living being is made of ‘stardust’ and therefore, are all a part of something much greater than what is conceivable to our earthly vantage point. Many spiritual teachings mention an overwhelming feeling of coming home during times of meditation. Lux found this inner peace when she discovered how to create mandalas, which helped ground her understanding of the ‘Universal Connection’ into her paintings.

As Lux was developing her artistic styles and connecting to the Calgary art community, she was introduced to Kalum Teke Dan in 2020. This acquaintance would prove to blossom into a 3-year mentorship where Lux assisted Dan in executing murals all over Calgary. Lux was inspired to seek ways to connect to her own Indigenous ancestry as Kalum shared about the Blackfoot traditions and symbolism seen in his work. It was at the beginning of 2023 when Lux began her journey to building her own art business and pursuing ways of sharing her spiritual understandings through her art. This pursuit ultimately led her to the Beltline Urban Mural Project’s Road Works program for new artist.