Du Mois

Amy McKinnon | Artist Statement

I contemplate with my eye on the table, "you are what you eat", is the comprehension of how our health/longevity and thus our destiny is in our own hands. Well, I heard it somewhere before, "you are what you buy". It is the same as, "you are what you eat" but it refers to our vanity instead of our longevity. Our society prevails on the notion that we must possess that which is deemed precious at just that moment. It is the search for happiness. The stuff we have is testament to our search for completion, to our wholeness. When in fact we know just what we need to survive, physically, it does not stop us from having to have that which will fix it all. The stuff we buy is evidence of our need to survive psychologically even spiritually.

Is it this lack of a struggle to survive that propels us to consume and with such zeal? While the subject will incite many tangents, the truth of the matter is that our stuff is a symbol of our humanity. It is the artifacts that define us as an individual and a culture. Our proliferation of consumables is our need to amuse ourselves. Since we are not preoccupied with the constant worry of our survival, death seems that much more enigmatic and surreal thus a confusion associated with the meaning of life leads us to fulfill that void with endless stuff.

The object to me has always visually been the contemplative thing. It is the object which you focus on when deep in thought. The one whose color imparts the very thoughts you possess. It is the object that obtains a soul through the very metaphor it exclaims. I have painted a variety of still lives in search of that explanation of a life unclear. I keep painting natura morte in order to capture a still moment within the bustle of a species obsessed with accumulation.

Amy McKinnon | Resume

Education

MFA, May 2005

Tulane University, New Orleans Louisiana

BFA , May 1995

Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Exhibitions: Solo

Reductive Techniques and Related Shapes, February 7- April 4 2010, Morrisville State University Butler Library Gallery, Morrisville New York

The Individual and The Collective, June 24-July 22 2010, Smithy Pioneer Gallery, Cooperstown New York

The Instinctual Systems of Free Will, May 5-26 2007, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

Align to Atone, April 9-18 2005, Carroll Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

Magazine, October 1999, Poets Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

Still Life and Landscape, Summer 1998, Mish Pupa Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

Exhibitions: Group

Food and Farming, April 2010, Morrisville State University Butler Library Gallery, Morrisville New York

Group Show, July 2009, Smithy Pioneer Gallery, Cooperstown New York

Artists in Exile, January 15-February 20, 2006 Atlanta Georgia

Artists in Exile, April 27-June 12 2006, Shreveport Louisiana

Artists in Exile, June 3 - July 7 2006, New Orleans Louisiana

Artists in Exile, June 10- July 10 2006, Miami Florida

Westwego Community Arts Center, April 30 – May 30 2005, Westwego Louisiana

Not Your Typical Still Life, February 2001, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

Still Life and Dirty Birds, October 2000, Poets Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

Group Exhibition, October 2000, Morgan West Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

Cityscapes, May 2000, Poets Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

No Dead Artists, April 2000, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

No Dead Artists, April1999, Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

Group Exhibition, October 1998, Poets Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

Group Exhibition, October 1998, Mish Pupa Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

No Dead Artists, April 1998, Positive Space Gallery, New Orleans Louisiana

Group Exhibition, July 1995, Phantom Gallery, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Group Exhibition, June 1995, Phantom Gallery, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Prospects ’95, May 1995, Levy Gallery, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Group Exhibition, March 1995, Phantom Gallery, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Three Woman Show, March 1995, Black Banana, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Group Exhibition, February 1995, Phantom Gallery, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Grants

Pollock Krasner Foundation, October 2007

Joan Mitchell Foundation, March 2006

Professional Experience

Technical Support and Research, December 2008- present, Golden Artist Colors, New Berlin New York

Technical Support and Research, May 2010- present, Williamsburg Handmade Oil Colors, New Berlin New York

Adjunct Professor, fall semester 2010, Hartwick College, Upper Level Drawing Course, Oneonta New York

Visiting Faculty, fall 2005, Columbia University, New York New York

Adjunct Faculty, Hired for fall 2005 to teach 3 courses (relieved of position due to Hurricane Katrina), Tulane University, New Orleans Louisiana

Drawing Instructor, fall semester 2004, Tulane University, New Orleans Louisiana

Drawing Instructor, spring semester 2005, Tulane University, New Orleans Louisiana

Muralist, July and August 2004, Herbsaint Restaurant, New Orleans Louisiana

Teacher’s Assistant (drawing), fall semester 2003, Tulane University, New Orleans Louisiana

Teacher’s Assistant (drawing), spring semester 2004, Tulane University, New Orleans Louisiana

Teacher’s Assistant (painting), spring semester 2004, Tulane University, New Orleans Louisiana

Gallery Maintenance, Installation and Lighting, August 2003- May 2005, Carroll Gallery, Tulane University, New Orleans Louisiana

Painting and Drawings published in conjunction with story on Italian Villas, July 1, 2001, Sacramento Bee Newspaper, Sacramento California

Painting and Antique Frame Restoration and Conservation, August 1995-June 1996, Pennsylvania Art Conservatory, Berwyn Pennsylvania

Internship, Mixing glazes, firing kilns, maintenance and gallery work, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Published Writing

Just Paint Newsletter, issue #24, Make a Mark, pages 8-12, 2011, Golden Artist Colors

Just Paint Newsletter, issue #22, Experimental Mixtures with Digital Mixed Media, pages 6-7, 2009, Golden Artist Colors