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emckennastudio@gmail.com

Bio

     The botanical world is a crazy fun house for me as a person who wears glasses and uses a

camera.The actual green world is a base subject which I am drawn to by the inherent

neutrality and beauty in the patterns and shapes of nature. Uncertainty, anxiety and instability

all factor into the making of my work. Patterns, color and line are my preferred obsessions in

embellishing the plants and trees in the initial images. It’s a redefining or an unsharpening of

a worldview that in my case is in a wooded area of upstate New York, near an area that

inspired many artists in previous generations. Initially, I chose to photograph the area and

was looking for the unusual shape and character of vernacular architecture. This resulted in a

small book titled “Directions to My House” and was influenced in part by an internship in art

school with the Philadelphia architectural firm, Venturi and Rauch. I am fully trained as a

photographer, with a bachelors and masters degree, and have worked as a photo educator,

photo researcher and editor. The disciplines that I am currently using are areas where I am

mostly self taught, drawing and animation. In certain ways, the tech changes in photography

that initially seemed to make the process easier, propelled me to look at how the hand of the

artist could still be seen. Previous attempts to alter my prints in grad school met with

lukewarm praise but I now saw them as differently, and as a potent combination of the

“reality” of an image interspersed with pattern and line.

    Seeing through lenses is a fascination and the process of finding a type of correctness or

sharpness was of less interest to me than the path taken to get there. In these works, I often

stop halfway where sharp focus lay next to near abstraction. By using overlays of drawn and

painted patterns, I could meld the two into a game of choice for the viewer. I intentionally

leave areas of the work unaltered and recognizable. The altered image is made with materials

that have properties that are imprecise, messy and clearly not identified with the botanicals as

they exist.

    Interpreting the lines from the image gives prompts for the work and those marks make for

even more assists until a piece feels complete. I am influenced by traditional botanical

illustrators, in particular the cut flowers of Mary Delany, and interpretive botanical works by

Robert Kushner and Lois Dodd among others. My animations are short, whimsical

meditations on how to see gardens and woods as moving scenarios, each one plausible and

brief, just as our lives are with variables like the direction of the movement, the hand drawn

selections within the frame and the sound.In both my print work and film, the presence of the

hand feels like an integral part of the work, finally.

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CV

 2023  Big Eddy Film Festival, Narrowsburg, NY Film festival, Shorts, Official Selection

           Bruges International Film Festival, Belgium, Tarkovski Grant 

           Harvest Lungs, East Village Community Garden, screening curated by Lori Olinder

           Catskill Art Space, Livingston Manor, Fantastical Films, screening curated by 

           Elizabeth Ennis

          This Earth, Montello Artists group show, Concord Art Museum, Concord MA

          Off Brand, A.R.T., Group show, Jackson Heights, NY   

          Lulea Film Festival, official selection, short film, Sweden

 2022  Musee Magazine, Weekend Portfolio feature   

          ALTFF Film Festival finalist in Indie festival for Ultra Shorts category in Vancover

          Tune in to Green, Experimental short film series online at the Diaramaroom.com

 2021  Southern Utah Museum of Art, Cedar City, UT, "This Earth", Montello Foundation   

          Astoria Film Festival, debut of three experimental animations, Heart of Gold, NYC   

          Michael Foley Gallery, NYC group show with Gerald Slota and Ellen Wallenstein 

 2020  QCA New Works, Artists Talk, Dec. 17th with Elaine Matczak, interviewer

          Queens Council on the Arts, SuCasa Program, Rochdale Village, Queens, NY. 

          Art from the Epicenter, online auction and exhibit   

 2019  Queens Council on the Arts, SuCasa Program, Newtown Center, Queens, NY           

           Jackson Heights Art Talks, E77, Artists  Talk   

 2018   Queens Council on the Arts, SuCasa Program, Queensbridge Houses, NY             

           School of Visual Arts, Photo Dept faculty show 

 2017   Wave Hill House, Wave Hill Gardens, Bronx, NY solo show           

           Queens Council on the Arts, SuCasa Program online portfolio of Cambria Heights 

 2016   Open Source Gallery, group show, Brooklyn NY             

           Montello Foundation, Montello, Nevada, artist residency 

 2015   Callicoon Trading, "Silhouettes", Callicoon, NY             

           Queens Museum Artists Market, Flushing Meadows, NY             

           SPARCS Program Artist, NYC Council on the Arts, Sunnyside, NY 

 2014   Wave Hill House, Bronx, NY Winter Artist Residency, exhibition           

           Arts Commons, traveling public arts exhibitions, Queens, NY 

 2013    School of Visual Arts, Photo Dept faculty show 

2012    Catskill Art Society, "Ghosts of the Catskills," Livingston Manor, NY        

           Adelphi University Harley UC Gallery, Group Exhibition, Garden City, NY   

2011   Mondo Studios, Queens NY, Artists open studio exhibition   

2010   Society of Photographic Educators, Group Exhibition, University of the Arts, Phila

2009   Adelphi University, Klapper Center for Fine Arts, Garden City, NY

2008   Flux Factory, Queens, NY group exhibition New York, New York 

            Outsider Studio,  Livingston Manor, NY 

2007   AAVI, online exhibition with the school portal, Mexico City, Mexico         

           Outsider Studio, "Through An Optic Nerve", Livingston Manor, NY   

2006   Queens Museum, "Queens International", Studio in A City, Queens, NY           

           Outsider Studio, Winter Show, Livingston Manor, NY 

 2005  Dry Good Arts Gallery, Livingston Manor, NY Welcome to My Home 

 2003  Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York, NY g             

           Minnesota Center for Photography,  "Towards A Low End Theory"   

2002   Queens Museum, "Everything All at Once",international exhibition with catalogue              Athens Institute of Contemporary Art, GA, "House", group show of photography  

 2001  Open City, portfolio from “Directions to My House”, online and literary journal   

2000   Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York, "Seeds, Squares and Houses", three person show             Von Lintel & Nusser Gallery, NY, "Unconscious Documentaries" curated by Paul                 Ha           

           The Meat Market Fair, White Columns entrant, Chelsea, New York   

1999   Silverstein Gallery, New York, group show             

          White Columns, NY, "Visitor", curated by Lauren Ross             

           Brooklyn Brewery, New York, "Mothers Work"

1998  Richard Anderson Fine Arts, project space, New York             

          Williamsburg Arts & Cultural Center, "Williamsburg Bridges Tibet"  Brooklyn, New York                                

           Baird Center, South Orange, New Jersey, "Image after Image", group show   

           Gallery 292, New York, group show NYU/ICP alum           

           Richard Anderson Fine Arts, group exhibition curated by Casey Kaplan, New York​

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Awards   

2020   Queens Council on the Arts, New Works Grant, NYC Dept of Art   

           Queens Council on the Arts, SuCasa in Rochdale Village, Queens, Y

2019   Su Casa grant, Newtown Italian Center, Queens, NY

2018   Su Casa grant, Queensbridge Houses 

2017   Montello Foundation Residency, Montello, Nevada

           Su Casa grant, Cambria Heights, Alpha Phi Alpha center   

2015   Sunnyside Community Houses, Sparks grant

2001   New York Foundation for the Arts, grant for catalogue project, “Directions to My House”​

 

Artist Residencies   

2017   Montello Foundation residency, Montello, Nevada   

2014   Wave Hill, Winter Residency program, three month project   

1998   Chinati Foundation, Marfa, Texas artist residency,   

1994   PS 122, Artists studio recipient   

1991   Yaddo, artist residency in Saratoga Springs, New York   

1989   National Park Service, Ellis Island, New York, Visiting Artists Program​

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Education   

 MA    New York University/ International Center of Photography, NY,  

 BFA   University of the Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, photography and printmaking​

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Teaching     

 Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY

 School of Visual Arts, New York City

 Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

 Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, 

 AAVI, D.F. Mexico City, Mexico

 LaGuardia Community College, Queens, NY     

 Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA

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Publications/Reviews     

  including Musee Magazine,  weekend portfolio series online, SUMA "This Earth", catalogue of exhibition of Montello Foundation      residents environmental works,  Everything All At Once, Queens Museum exhibition catalogue     

  Art Papers, Flash Art,  Athens Banner-Herald,  Directions to My House, self published book of photograph of the built environment    Open City,  The New Yorker                                

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    © 2024 Evie McKenna, all rights reserved