About Me

Hi, I’m Ceren McKay, artist, designer, and the creative mind behind the work you see here.

Art has always been part of my life. It just took different forms over time. In the early ’90s, it started with theatre and music; storytelling in its most immediate, emotional form. That love of expression led me to visual storytelling, which pulled me into graphic design. I earned my BFA in 1998 and later explored digital media and printmaking as a guest artist at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm. Whether I was working with movement, layout, or color, one thing stayed constant: creating something original and expressive.

Over the years, I’ve worked across borders and disciplines; designing for Scandinavian magazines, exhibiting photography and graphic art in Gothenburg and Stockholm, and later joining art communities in Canada. Since moving to Canada in 2008, my creative focus shifted toward painting, especially after becoming a mother. I needed flexibility, but I wasn’t willing to give up on making art. Painting gave me that balance. It let me stay close to home while staying connected to who I am.

In 2012, I opened my home studio in Kelowna, where I continue to turn layers of experience -Turkish, Swedish, Canadian- into abstract acrylic paintings and mixed-media work. At the same time, I never stopped loving graphic design, typography, or problem-solving through visuals. And now, after years of doing both separately, I’ve created a space where everything comes together.

CerenMcKay.com is where my original artwork lives on everyday things: printed on canvas boards, pillows, T-shirts, mugs, posters, and more. It’s where art meets real life; practical, tactile, and made to stand out in a sea of sameness. No copy-paste designs here. Each piece starts with a real painting or design I created in the studio.

This site is the sister to my digital shop, CerenMcKay.Store, where I offer high-res printable art, ebooks, and creative tools for people who want something useful and original.

This new chapter brings together everything I’ve built over the years: bold painting, thoughtful design, and a deep belief that we don’t have to choose between beautiful and functional, or between passion and practicality. I’ve made this space for people like me; who care about originality, love a good design, and want the things around them to feel a little more them.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ceren ❤️