Event:UnBroken - An Evening of Art, Story and Strength
Organizer:Red Art Gallery
event website
event website
Location:Smithbilt Hats, Calgary
914 - 11 Street S.E. Calgary
Calgary AB
914 - 11 Street S.E. Calgary
Calgary AB
Date:Saturday Sep 26, 2026
5:00 PM - 9:00 PM MDT
5:00 PM - 9:00 PM MDT
Cost:Regular Admission - $165.00
Collector VIP Access - $245.00
Early Bird - Regular Admission - $135.00
Early Bird - Collector VIP - $215.00
Collector VIP Access - $245.00
Early Bird - Regular Admission - $135.00
Early Bird - Collector VIP - $215.00
Contact:Marion Evamy
(250) 294-6864
me@redartgallery.ca
(250) 294-6864
me@redartgallery.ca
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Online and Live Art Auction and Fashion Experience for Cowgirls at Heart. A Collaborative Art and Storytelling Project to Benefit Little Warriors Canada. Hosted by Jane Stewart and Marion Evamy. Jane is a storyteller, public speaker and Western fashion icon. Marion is an established Canadian painter who channels her life and observations into strong, colourful and often humorous statements. UNBroken began as a conversation between them as they understood what it means to break, and to choose to rebuild. It has become a creative collaboration, celebrating the strength of women who reinvent themselves.
Tickets go on sale June 6, 2026.
| Cash Appeal | Our Goal | |
|---|---|---|
 | Little Warriors Donations |
| Auction Items | Value | High Bid | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auction Paintings | |||
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Cheers to Us
32" x 22" framed. By artist Marion Evamy. These women are exaggerated in all the right places: oversized boots planted like anchors, big working hands that suggest capability and survival, tiny heads tucked beneath dramatic hats as though they’ve learned to protect their inner world, and an unmistakable swagger that says I’m still here. The proportions aren’t anatomical — they’re emotional. They tell the story before the viewer even reads the title. Survivors are often expected to present one way — fragile, solemn, visibly wounded. But this woman feels complex. Stylish. Wry. Maybe even funny. She refuses to surrender pleasure, colour, or personality just because life tried to diminish her. The small head is especially powerful in this context. It almost reads as emotional self-protection. The hat obscures identity, which makes her universal — she becomes many women at once. The anonymity allows viewers to project themselves into her story. She is less portrait and more archetype. It’s very “Marion” in the best sense: difficult subject matter delivered through colour and wit rather than heaviness. She doesn't paint victimhood. She paints endurance with personality intact. “Cheers to Us” feels like one of the more quietly triumphant pieces in the series. Not loud resilience. Not performative empowerment. More like the exhausted, slightly defiant toast that happens after surviving something hard. This may be the most moving part of the whole Unbroken concept — the idea that healing happens collectively. Through story, humour, fashion, art, visibility, and being witnessed. This piece doesn’t ask for pity. It asks for a glass raised in solidarity. A toast between women. A recognition. A survival ritual. Not “cheers to me.” Cheers to Us. 50% of the proceeds from the sale of this painting will benefit Little Warriors and their extraordinary work supporting children affected by sexual abuse. Priceless! Current bid: $0 Donated By Red Art Gallery |
Priceless! | $0 |
|
The Audacity of Joy
40” x 30” She’s holding it together with one hand, tossing joy around with the other, while three dogs supervise like middle management. One demands attention. One quietly believes in her. One is launching itself into chaos with absolute confidence. Sound familiar? This cowgirl is every woman who has rebuilt herself while still showing up for everyone else. She’s resilient, exhausted, funny, loving, overcommitted… and still standing in fabulous boots. The ball she holds is a symbol of life’s choices, temptations, mistakes, second chances and hope. Because being “unbroken” doesn’t mean life didn’t crack you open a few times. It means you somehow found the courage to keep your heart soft anyway. And maybe that’s the real spirit of the cowgirl in us: grit wrapped in humor, strength wrapped in compassion, and enough stubbornness to keep dancing through the fire. 50% of the proceeds from the sale of this painting will benefit Little Warriors and their extraordinary work supporting children affected by sexual abuse. Priceless! Current bid: $0 Donated By Red Art Gallery |
Priceless! | $0 |
|
A Safe Place to Land
36” x 30” This one leans. Not because she’s weak… because she’s wise. The horse carries the weight beside her like an old friend who knows every scar without needing an explanation. Together, they feel calm, steady and quietly powerful — the kind of strength women earn after surviving things they never should have had to survive. There’s confidence here, but not the loud kind. This cowgirl doesn’t need to prove anything anymore. She already survived the storm. Now she gets to stand in her own color, take up space, wear the beautiful boots and exhale a little. I think the spirit of the cowgirl lives in every woman who kept going after life tried to buck her off. The ones who rebuilt themselves with grit, humor, compassion and maybe a tiny bit of lipstick-fueled spite. This painting was created for the UnBroken auction event, with proceeds helping support Little Warriors and their mission to provide healing, education and prevention programs for children affected by sexual abuse. A reminder that 50% of the sales proceeds will be donated to support Little Warriors Canada. Priceless! Current bid: $0 Donated By Red Art Gallery |
Priceless! | $0 |
|
Blue
She sits quietly here, but don’t mistake quiet for weakness. This cowgirl has the bull at her back. Not charging this time… just present. Looming. Heavy. Symbolic. We all carry bulls behind us eventually. Grief. Betrayal. Divorce. Fear. Reinvention. Loss. The years we spent making ourselves smaller to keep everyone else comfortable. And yet there she sits — boots planted, posture calm, nail polish intact. Because women are extraordinary that way. I painted her with her hands folded protectively, almost tenderly, while her little white dog stands guard at her feet like a devoted protector of her spirit. Dogs know us better than most humans ever will. They don’t care about the masks, the titles, the mistakes or whether we held everything together gracefully. They simply stay. There’s something deeply emotional to me about that kind of loyalty. Especially for women who’ve spent years being strong for everyone else. The blue tones in this painting feel reflective and soulful, but there’s still humour stitched into it too. Because surviving life with your spirit intact often requires a slightly inappropriate sense of humour and at least one animal who thinks you’re magnificent even when you’re eating crackers over the kitchen sink at 10 pm. This painting feels like a self portrait of resilience. Not loud resilience. The quieter kind. The kind where you rebuild your life piece by piece… while nobody fully notices the courage it took just to sit calmly with the bull behind you and keep going anyway. And maybe that’s what so many women will recognize here: strength does not always roar. Sometimes it wears turquoise boots, carries heartbreak with dignity… and still remembers to feed the dog first. 50% of the proceeds from the sale of this painting will benefit Little Warriors and their extraordinary work supporting children affected by sexual abuse. Priceless! Current bid: $0 Donated By Red Art Gallery |
Priceless! | $0 |
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Gold and Silver
36" x 36" This painting is about the moment after survival becomes identity. After the adrenaline. After the performance of “I’m okay.” This woman has clearly rebuilt herself carefully, intentionally, stylishly even — but she still remembers. And that’s where Marion's exaggerated proportions become psychologically brilliant again. The large hands feel important here. One hand hangs heavily between her knees while the other shields her expression. Hands in your work symbolize labour — emotional and otherwise. These are women who do. Women who hold things together. Women who carry. The boots are extraordinary. Unlike the fiery pink boots in “Cheers to Us,” these feel darker, cooler, more mysterious. Almost regal. They read like strength reclaimed rather than strength announced. The pointed shape and snakeskin-like pattern suggest protection, adaptation, survival instinct. A snake sheds its skin. Survivors reinvent themselves. The small hidden face under the oversized hat again creates universality, but in this painting it also suggests privacy. Boundaries. She owes us no full emotional disclosure. That feels incredibly aligned with trauma-informed storytelling. Survivors are so often expected to explain themselves, reveal themselves, expose their pain to be believed. This figure refuses full access. And then there’s the title. “Gold and Silver” sounds at first like wealth or glamour, but emotionally it reads more like duality: softness and steel, warmth and coolness, visible self and hidden self, scars and polish, survival and beauty. Gold and silver are both precious metals formed under pressure. That symbolism lands beautifully in the context of UnBroken. Compositionally, the geometric and structured feeling of this piece just shines compared to the organic looseness of the figure. The blocks of yellow, blue, grey and cream create almost architectural emotional compartments — like she’s sitting inside constructed stability. A rebuilt life. Ordered surfaces around complicated feelings. “I survived. I rebuilt. I learned how to carry myself beautifully. But resilience is not the same thing as never having been hurt.” For an auction connected to Little Warriors, that nuance matters deeply. These works don’t reduce women to either victims or superheroes. They allow complexity, humour, glamour, fatigue, sensuality, privacy, defiance — all at once. A reminder that 50% of the sales proceeds will be donated to support Little Warriors Canada. Priceless! Current bid: $0 Donated By Red Art Gallery |
Priceless! | $0 |
| Available Right Now | |||
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Long Ride Home
48” x 36” Some souls arrive in this world already carrying too much. That’s what I thought about while creating Long Ride Home — inspired by Willie Nelson’s song about the abused horses he rescued and the quiet dignity animals somehow manage to hold onto, even after humans have failed them. These two painted ponies feel whimsical at first glance — all pattern, geometry, colour and playful mid-century swagger — but underneath the surface, this painting is really about survival, companionship and trust slowly returning. Because healing rarely happens alone. The horses lean toward each other like old friends who know the road has been long, dusty and unfair at times… but they’re still moving forward anyway. There’s tenderness in that. Strength too. I wanted this piece to feel hopeful without becoming sentimental. A little battered, a little beautiful — much like the best humans I know. And maybe that’s why the spirit of the cowgirl runs so deep in all of us. We keep carrying each other home. Through heartbreak, through loss, through hard seasons. Sometimes with grit. Sometimes with humor. Sometimes with a Willie Nelson song and stubborn determination. Valued at $4,750 Current bid: $0 Donated By Red Art Gallery |
$4,750 | $0 |
|
Boot Scootin Boogie
Its ‘mate’ is held in the Calgary Stampede permanent collection at BMO Center. There’s a moment that happens when a great song comes on — the kind with a beat that grabs your hips before your brain has time to act sophisticated — and suddenly everybody remembers who they used to be. Or maybe who they still are underneath the responsibilities, bad news, deadlines and sensible shoes. Boot Scootin’ Boogie is pure joy on canvas. It’s flirtation, laughter, loud music, dusty boots and that magical moment when strangers become dance partners because the band hit the first chord and nobody could resist. I painted this piece as a reminder that resilience isn’t always solemn. Sometimes healing looks like dancing badly with confidence. Sometimes survival looks like red lipstick, good boots and refusing to sit down when your favorite song comes on. The spirit of the cowgirl has never really been about perfection. It’s about getting back up, showing up, and squeezing every ounce of joy out of life while you still can. Because every child deserves safety, healing, hope… and eventually, the freedom to dance again. Valued at $4,000 Current bid: $0 Donated By Red Art Gallery |
$4,000 | $0 |
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Don't Fence Me In
36" x 24” Artist Marion Evamy This cowgirl isn’t posing for approval. She’s reclaiming territory. The oversized hat pulled low feels a bit mysterious… a little protective… the universal expression of a woman who has lived long enough to know she does not owe everyone access to her soul. I painted her with exaggerated feet because women like this have earned their ground. They’ve walked through fire, heartbreak, reinvention, disappointment, impossible expectations and at least three decades of uncomfortable footwear. The pink boots? Pure rebellion. The patterns and layers in her clothing tell the story of survival. Every shape feels like a patchwork of identities women carry through life — caregiver, dreamer, peacemaker, professional, artist, protector, lover, warrior. Sometimes all before lunch. And yet there’s humour here too. Because women who survive hard things often become wickedly funny. There’s a certain swagger that develops when you’ve rebuilt yourself a few times and realized the world didn’t end simply because you stopped apologizing for taking up space. This painting is a self portrait in many ways. Not because it looks like me… but because it feels like me. And perhaps that’s true for all art. We paint our longings, our scars, our resilience and our freedom over and over again… hoping someone else sees a piece of themselves reflected back. For every woman who has ever been underestimated, dismissed, betrayed, silenced or told to “stay in her lane”… May you buy the pink boots anyway. And may no one ever fence you in again. Valued at $3,100 Current bid: $0 Donated By Red Art Gallery |
$3,100 | $0 |
|
Blueberry The Brave
Bulls have always fascinated me. They’re symbols of strength, survival, determination and raw power — but the older I get, the more I think the real power isn’t in the charge. It’s in the endurance. Painted abstractly in layered blues, indigos and electric flashes of colour, he feels both fierce and thoughtful to me… like something ancient carrying stories it doesn’t need to explain. There’s weight here, but also dignity. A quiet kind of resilience. That’s why this piece felt right for the UnBroken event. Because surviving hard things changes you. It deepens you. It leaves marks and shadows and strange beautiful colors where innocence used to live. But sometimes it also leaves wisdom, compassion and the kind of strength that no longer needs to shout. I painted this bull as a reminder that being powerful and being wounded are not opposites. In fact, some of the strongest beings on earth are the ones who kept going while carrying both. Proceeds from this work will help support Little Warriors and their extraordinary mission helping children affected by sexual abuse find healing, safety and hope. Valued at $1,650 Current bid: $0 Donated By Red Art Gallery |
$1,650 | $0 |
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The Healing Committee
20” x 16” Every woman should have a healing committee. Mine just happens to have four legs, a wet nose, and absolutely no respect for personal space. This painting celebrates the unsung heroes of recovery: the companions who sit with us through the hard days, listen without interrupting, and never once suggest we “move on.” The cowgirl may look like she’s comforting her dog, but anyone who’s ever loved an animal knows the truth. The dog is doing most of the heavy lifting. Created for Unbroken, this piece is a reminder that healing often arrives in unexpected forms. A friend. A community. A second chance. A dog who believes you’re wonderful even when you haven’t brushed your hair. Strength isn’t always loud. Sometimes it’s simply having the courage to lean on those who love you until you’re ready to stand tall again. This painting has a particularly tender, hopeful energy. It feels less about surviving the storm and more about what comes afterward—the comfort, connection, and kindness that help us heal. Priceless! Current bid: $0 Donated By Red Art Gallery |
Priceless! | $0 |
All original paintings are donated by Canadian artist Marion Evamy and Red Art Gallery. Five paintings have been painted specifically for the auction event, and five originals are also available for immediate fixed price purchase. Please contact Marion if you have any questions: me@redartgallery.ca
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