The Weight of All That Is
Waterworks Visual Art Center
September 17, 2021 - January 28, 2022
North Charleston City Gallery
October 1-31, 2019
September 17, 2021 - January 28, 2022
North Charleston City Gallery
October 1-31, 2019
“…stone of the mind within us carried from one silence to another…” ~Carolyn Forché, The Museum of Stones
About twenty years ago, I hit the preverbal wall. Since then, the struggle to overcome the mental weight of seemingly insurmountable obstacles has become the central theme of my art.
The paintings in this series feature a motif of large ovoid stones central to the composition. These shapes are a representation of the current heaviness of today’s socio/political climate (amplified by social media) and the effect this has on my personal struggles with depression and anxiety. The scale of these stone shaped forms, balancing precariously within their surroundings, projects a sense of tension not unlike that which we feel when faced with subjects and situations we’d rather not acknowledge; much less discuss openly.
About twenty years ago, I hit the preverbal wall. Since then, the struggle to overcome the mental weight of seemingly insurmountable obstacles has become the central theme of my art.
The paintings in this series feature a motif of large ovoid stones central to the composition. These shapes are a representation of the current heaviness of today’s socio/political climate (amplified by social media) and the effect this has on my personal struggles with depression and anxiety. The scale of these stone shaped forms, balancing precariously within their surroundings, projects a sense of tension not unlike that which we feel when faced with subjects and situations we’d rather not acknowledge; much less discuss openly.
Common Threads: Fabric Collage
Gallery 27, Lincolnton NC
June 1 - August 1, 2018
Not long ago, I was looking through a book about the Catawba River before the damns were built. I was in search of maps and photographs showing the river and it’s topography. I found a few maps, but two photos captured my imagination: one of the Manbo textile mill and another of a group of the mill workers; far too many of whom were children. They reminded me of characters from a Dickens novel and I began to think about how poverty becomes romanticized over time. About how poverty and lack of education become almost a badge of honor, particularly in the South where it has been rebranded as “Redneck Culture”.
Redneck culture is a myth. A romanticized ideal, like the noble savage and the happy plantation slave. It is a slight of hand, used by those who would unfairly profit from the labor of people financially trapped and unable to progress. It is the food of oppression and it has been fed to generations of white southerners. A beautiful lie that has convinced them that poverty is a simpler, noble way of life. Today, as minimum wage workers are forced to work two and three jobs to make ends meet, I cannot help but hear the echo of mill workers from a time when they were convinced that a life spent toiling in the mill was better than share cropping.
My fabric collage series endeavors to depict this lie through the embellishing of images of early textile workers using bright colors and delicate embroidery juxtaposed against mechanical, blue print like cyanotype reproductions of the photos. Some of these images were photographed between 1908 and 1915, in various cotton mills throughout the Southern Piedmont as part of the National Child Labor Committee’s efforts to outlaw child labor. Their official photographer was Lewis Hine. Since Hine often gained access to mills under false pretenses, the young mill workers are unidentified
Redneck culture is a myth. A romanticized ideal, like the noble savage and the happy plantation slave. It is a slight of hand, used by those who would unfairly profit from the labor of people financially trapped and unable to progress. It is the food of oppression and it has been fed to generations of white southerners. A beautiful lie that has convinced them that poverty is a simpler, noble way of life. Today, as minimum wage workers are forced to work two and three jobs to make ends meet, I cannot help but hear the echo of mill workers from a time when they were convinced that a life spent toiling in the mill was better than share cropping.
My fabric collage series endeavors to depict this lie through the embellishing of images of early textile workers using bright colors and delicate embroidery juxtaposed against mechanical, blue print like cyanotype reproductions of the photos. Some of these images were photographed between 1908 and 1915, in various cotton mills throughout the Southern Piedmont as part of the National Child Labor Committee’s efforts to outlaw child labor. Their official photographer was Lewis Hine. Since Hine often gained access to mills under false pretenses, the young mill workers are unidentified
Solo Exhibition - Sticks, Stones and Seeds
February 1 - 28, 2018
City Hall Rotunda Rock Hill, SC
Works by Liz McKay & Stacey Pilkington Smith
Gallery 27 Fifth Anniversary Celebration
May 20 - June 7, 2017
Gallery 27 Lincolnton, NC
Sticks, Stones and Seeds (The Journey to Self)
We all have the voices of the well intended in our heads. You know the ones which tell you that you’re being unrealistic or impractical? They are distracting, and often feel like sticks & stones being lobbed at your most heartfelt dreams. I think I was about twenty paintings into this series when I realized I was expressing this very frustration. These small criticisms accumulate in the corners of your psyche and pull on your energy. However, if you plant seeds of imagination amid them, they then begin to break down, becoming the fertile soil that feeds your creativity. The works in this show feature elements of sticks, stones and seeds; seed spirits - which represent the essence of creativity; portals and pathways. Artistic journeys are lifelong, and I intend to follow mine to fruition whatever that may be.
Liz McKay
May 2017
OF THE EARTH
Eco-printed Textiles by Fulvia Boriani Luciano
and Jewelry by Liz McKay
Joint Exhibition - June 2016
Gallery 27 Lincolnton, NC
"The swaying canopy of leaves over head and the rustle of scurrying insects along moss covered ground are the touchstones from which textile artist Fulvia Boriani Luciano and jewelry artist Liz McKay draw inspiration in their installation entitled “Of The Earth”. Eco-printed, reclaimed textiles hang from the gallery ceiling, and handcrafted sterling silver & cast paper jewelry is displayed just beneath to give the viewer the sense that they are walking among the artists vision of an untouched forest."
NAKED TRUTH
Figurative Works
Solo Exhibition - November 2015
Gallery 27 Lincolnton, NC
Artist's Statement
“Finding yourself thrust back into the dating world past the age of 50 is daunting. You spend a lot of time standing nude before the bathroom mirror wondering if anyone will ever find you attractive again. Those of us who don’t own a gym membership struggle. We struggle not only to find the courage to allow someone to see us physically naked, but emotionally naked as well.”
Liz McKay, October 2015
"NAKED TRUTH" presents a series of large scale figurative paintings and small drawings that explore the psychology of love and loss through the provocative power of the nude form.
“Finding yourself thrust back into the dating world past the age of 50 is daunting. You spend a lot of time standing nude before the bathroom mirror wondering if anyone will ever find you attractive again. Those of us who don’t own a gym membership struggle. We struggle not only to find the courage to allow someone to see us physically naked, but emotionally naked as well.”
Liz McKay, October 2015
"NAKED TRUTH" presents a series of large scale figurative paintings and small drawings that explore the psychology of love and loss through the provocative power of the nude form.
WE ABIDE
Solo Exhibition - April 2015
Gallery 27 Lincolnton,NC
Artist’s Statement
Having recently been through a divorce, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the word abide.
Abide is an old, Biblical sort of word. It is a word that has multiple and often complex meanings. In the purest sense, abide means to dwell with or to live within, literally and figuratively. It speaks to me of the warmth of home and of family tradition, evokes lingering memories of love, and reminds me that I can endure hardships and loss. It encourages me to carry on. At its darkest, abide means to tolerate, to obey. It begs me to contemplate that which is often suffered in silence.
WE ABIDE explores these various meanings through the touchstone quality of common objects; staged in little vignettes or enshrined like holy objects in vessels such as reliquaries. I have chosen to create the assemblages and reliquaries in this show from materials that would otherwise have been discarded: used papers, bags, boxes, various containers, found objects, etc...
For what we leave behind also abides.
Liz McKay, April 2015
Having recently been through a divorce, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the word abide.
Abide is an old, Biblical sort of word. It is a word that has multiple and often complex meanings. In the purest sense, abide means to dwell with or to live within, literally and figuratively. It speaks to me of the warmth of home and of family tradition, evokes lingering memories of love, and reminds me that I can endure hardships and loss. It encourages me to carry on. At its darkest, abide means to tolerate, to obey. It begs me to contemplate that which is often suffered in silence.
WE ABIDE explores these various meanings through the touchstone quality of common objects; staged in little vignettes or enshrined like holy objects in vessels such as reliquaries. I have chosen to create the assemblages and reliquaries in this show from materials that would otherwise have been discarded: used papers, bags, boxes, various containers, found objects, etc...
For what we leave behind also abides.
Liz McKay, April 2015
The Three Aspects - Maid, Mother & Crone (triptych)
I originally
envisioned this piece as an interpretation of the Celtic triple goddess.
However, as I began considering objects for the piece, a deeper insight took shape.
The piece became a visual representation
of the very strict ways in which society uses a woman’s outward appearance to
measure her worth; about how objects are used to identify a good woman.
The objects enshrined in this tryptic date from the years just prior to the Feminist Movement. Today women enjoy much greater freedom but, although we excel in ways our mothers and grandmothers once only dreamed of, our societal value is still being defined by others. We are still being labeled by the length of our hemline, measured against standards that are relics of an age long past.
The objects enshrined in this tryptic date from the years just prior to the Feminist Movement. Today women enjoy much greater freedom but, although we excel in ways our mothers and grandmothers once only dreamed of, our societal value is still being defined by others. We are still being labeled by the length of our hemline, measured against standards that are relics of an age long past.