Proud to Shine illustration celebrates the core moments of Pride

Published by CBC Communications

Throughout the East Coast, Pride is dedicated to uplifting voices and celebrating the 2SLGBTQ+ community with a variety of local festivals. CBC's Proud to Shine highlights the accomplishments and lives of 2SLGBTQ+ people making a difference in their community, industry and everyday life.

To celebrate Pride in 2021, @cbc_eastcoast invited Fredericton-based artist Misha Milchenko to create a unique illustration for Proud to Shine.

His colourful, community-oriented drawing showcases a group of people laughing and sharing a moment together. Milchenko says he believes those types of moments are at the very core of Pride.

"Proud to Shine, that sounded to me like having a place where you are happy to be yourself, and that's a community," Milchenko says.

A fulfilling day job teaching adult immigrants

Milchenko, who works primarily as an English as Second Language (ESL) teacher, never planned to make art professionally. His day job, which mostly involves working with adult immigrants, has always been fulfilling an immigrant himself, born in the Ukraine and spending his childhood in Israel, Milchenko loves getting to know and teach others.

But art has always been at the back of Milchenko's mind. He says he's often turned to it as a form of self-expression, but didn't think monetizing it was an option.

"Growing up, I mean, I wanted to do art, but that wasn't really a possibility," he says. "My family understood art to be something you can do on the side and not the main career that you can follow. Art school wasn't possible for me."

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A serendipitous arrangement

Milchenko studied Sociology at the University of St.Thomas, keeping art solely as a hobby. It wasn't until the pandemic set in that he started taking art more seriously, signing up for his first ever visual arts class.

The arrangement was serendipitous. Just after lockdown, two of his students professional artists from Iran mentioned they were teaching art classes and looking for students of their own.

"I took classes with them for the whole summer, kind of just developed my skills, and got a whole lot more confidence from that," Milchenko says. "It was a very rewarding relationship."

Milchenko attributes much of his success to his teachers at the Olka Art Collective, saying they pushed him to be a better artist and set him up with most of his early opportunities.

Though most of what the artist shares on Instagram is digital art, Milchenko has also been exploring other mediums. Since the pandemic started he's been enjoying painting, and more specifically, tactile paintings, which involves sculpting on canvas to create embossed lines and texture.

"I'm fascinated by adding the extra sense of touch to paintings," he says. "I think it makes them more real."

See more art by Misha Milchenko

For Milchenko, art is not always a solo endeavour. His husband is a tattoo artist, and the two have been collaborating and inspiring each other as Milchenko spends more time on his art.

Though Milchenko has marched in the Fredericton Pride Parade for the past several years, this Pride looked different for him: he spent it running a booth at the market, where he sold his art and engaged with other members of the queer community.

He says he'll keep celebrating Pride by spending time with his husband and his art.

"For me, pride is the opposite of shame," Milchenko says. "I made a promise to myself, to not feel shame anymore. I'm working on it it's just the ability to be happy and pleased with who you are and what you have."

ABOUT PROUD TO SHINE
Proud to Shinehighlights 2SLGBTQ+ folks who are making a difference in their communities, industries and everyday life. Throughout the summer, we will be sharing some of their stories. Check back here for updates, and you can also find the stories shared on @cbc_eastcoast.