Q&A: Meaghan Smith's Musical Dreamscape

By Meghan JewellOn Saturday, October 17 at 8 pm, Juno Award-winning Canadian singer and songwriter Meaghan Smith will be joining the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra as the kick-off artist to their 2015/2016 Pop Series. Meaghan Smith is a quirky, fun, and creative Canadian performer who will warm your heart. Her music is eclectic with a warm, vintage, jazzy feel. The night will also feature Smith’s Miniature Art Show.The Walleye: Have you been to Thunder Bay before and what was your impression of our city?Meaghan Smith: The first time I was in Thunder Bay was when I was 16 years old and I ran away from home. I took a bus from my hometown of London, Ontario, and went north to stay with some friends. I felt peace there. The pines and the water, the rocks and the air really did something good for my soul. I ended up going back home a better person.TW: How did you connect with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra?MS: I actually reached out to them to see if they would have any interest in collaborating on a show with me. I have played with symphonies before and have loved every musical second of it. I have a one-year-old baby and am not ready to go back on a full-scale tour. I am very picky about what shows I want to play and where. This was one of the shows I really wanted to play.TW: Describe in a few sentences what we might expect when we go to your show.MS: I will be performing songs from my Juno Award-winning album, The Cricket's Orchestra. My songs “I Know” and “If You Asked Me” have a big band flare. My husband, Jason Mingo, will be performing with me. He's my husband and my band, so I call him my “HusBand.” The show will be diverse and entertaining! Come ready to be whisked away and transported into a musical dreamscape.TW: Tell me about your artwork.MS: The Miniature Art Show is a collection of tiny paintings that I began creating for my own enjoyment. I wanted to take them on the road while I was on tour and display them at shows, so they needed to be small enough to fit into my suitcase. I stumbled upon a cardboard box of sweet teensy frames at an antique shop in Montreal and the Miniature Art Show was born! To date I have created and sold over four hundred miniature paintings. I fill each frame with colourful portraits of all sorts of characters from robots to animals to humans and anything else I can possibly imagine. I will be doing a brand new series of paintings specifically for the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra Show, my first in two years.For more information, visit meaghansmith.com.