Kath McGaughey

collage

2012-01-31T09:52:00.000-08:00

Lion Heart Art Show

2012-01-30T18:23:00.000-08:00

Local and regional artists will be displaying their artwork on 10”x10” panels of wood to be displayed on the walls of Riverside Studios in downtown Truckee from 4-8pm on the evening of February 3rd. Each piece of artwork will be sold for $100 with proceeds going to the High Fives Nonprofit Foundation - CR Johnson Healing Center.

I am submitting 3 pieces. I will donate the whole sale of two of the pieces to High Fives!

They may look familiar...the diptych is recut work from of absence and the other is working with a particular crow image that I like alot...

collage on panel

scratchboard on panel diptych

detail

______smith

2012-01-23T12:45:00.000-08:00

Lis Korb, who wrote the Moonshine Ink article also has a blog. Check it out- lots of of interesting stuff regarding writing, art and life in general- http://blanksmith.com/

Regarding 'of absence'- http://blanksmith.com/2012/01/17/vonnegut-mcgaughey-and-death/

Moonshine Ink article and Ustream Live!

2012-01-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

Lis Korb, writing for Moonshine Ink, viewed my BFA show and wrote an article regarding the work.
Pick up a hard copy or peruse it online- http://www.moonshineink.com/articles.php/96/2619

Also- Sierra Nevada College has started streaming the BFA and visiting artist lectures on 'Ustream Live'. A great reference tool and a great way for students etc to be able to attend when not attending...you can even write or text in questions and be a part of the question/ answer time.

If you are interested, here is a link to my lecture at the official opening night at the gallery. http://www.facebook.com/SNCFA?sk=app_196506863720166

More BFA photos

2011-12-11T17:46:00.000-08:00

Some of the students documented the show and took some good photos that I wanted to include. (thanks Lexi and Logan!)

BFA Show

2011-12-09T10:09:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everybody who came!!!!! I really appreciated the support and appreciated all the questions and feedback. I may be able to keep the show up till New Year so if you were not able to make it and are interested drop by. Please, please contact me if you if you have any questions, comments!!!!

Installation

2011-12-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

The 'alabaster alcove' (see a Youngman Hennessy video if you don't know the reference - it is worth watching his videos- this is a good one to start off with! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yea4qSJMx4 )

before....

during...

Anza felting

Logan's shadow puppet

Russell re-hanging (it was square before I swear)

And installed!

2011-11-28T21:42:00.000-08:00

10 days before gallery reception for BFA final show.

I have been working with the crows for 4 months now to not much avail. Mary Kenny (drawing/ design and printmaking teacher) reintroduced me, inadvertently to Matt Woodward. http://www.mattwoodwardart.com/ He does large, large scale graphite drawings revolving around architecture and its embellishments. I have heavily leaned on him to finally figure out what to do with my crows. I have made 2 large 4x4 feet panels of crows on lines. Below are the two seperate panels- one done, one started. I'll glue them together and hang them to the floor.

The crows on the lines represent a type of meditation- like rosary beads or Buddhist prayer beads.

All very rough and gestural.

All other crows have been cut up and are being sewn into a paper quilt that is also 6-8 feet long and will also hang to the floor.

The quilted crows reference the hospice where my dad passed away in Australia. When a person passed away the family typically made something and gave it to the hospice- bed covers, paintings, pottery, crocheted doilies etc.

The quilt also references comfort, covering, story telling. A quilt is like a historical document- 'it tells the story of a time or the story of a life . Traditionally many have been purely functional, created for warmth, but culturally, they have expressed the lives , and often marked the celebrations,of the person who made them.' (pictures to come)

I also have painted in charcoal and acrylic two 4x4 foot panels of single crows...actually a raven and a crow.

Not all will be hung but I will take them all to the gallery and see how they get along together.

BFA!

2011-11-14T20:46:00.000-08:00

This year the department has set aside space for BFA students to work in and store their work in. It's great having an area to work from that is also accessible to other students to watch the work progressing from.

Thomas Grana is having his BFA opening reception this thursday the 17th- come, come, come!

BFA student space!

Thomas installing Geo-Phonics!

messing with the murder.

2011-11-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

I spent a couple of weeks working on the benches. They are essentially done- just waiting for their final color of 'patriot blue' (ironic). With the cold snap on us (aka- winter), I can't spray paint them until we get a sunny afternoon so it's back to photo and crows. I'm trying to document the crows, possibly cut them up and mess with them. I think I would like to burn them and bring the ashes somehow into the piece.
I am trying to articulate a more focused theme by using the work to explore/create a personal prescription (a ritual, rite..... convention...) in an effort to breach the gap that has come with the sequestration of death in our society- a consequence of which is the loss of public recognition of personal mourning.
Heavy.

Junior Art Portfolio

2011-11-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

The JAPR students presented their work on friday to faculty, students and other interested parties. JAPR is a step in practising putting together a body of work and talking about it.
I thought the work, as a whole, was consistently of a high standard....I suspect if I were to have shown my JAPR work with this crowd, I would have been invited kindly back for another chance!

http://mattwmattson.blogspot.com/

http://samshearart.blogspot.com/

http://khartsock.blogspot.com/

http://molly-allen.blogspot.com/

http://vicgut.blogspot.com/

http://appetiteofthesoul.blogspot.com/

http://christyrasmussen.blogspot.com/

http://brettvarga.blogspot.com/

Two benches!

2011-11-03T06:45:00.000-07:00

Progress on the benches

2011-11-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

I was able to get alot done this past weekend. I was able to cut out all end supports, attach legs and cut and rout (is that a word? ) all my slats for the seating and begin assemebling them. I have finished one completely and the 2nd is half done.

attaching legs to end supports

end supports with legs!

routing- rounding the edges of the slats (favourite tool!)

figuring the spacing of the slats out...

attaching the slats

the almost finished bench!!

Building II

2011-10-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

Started the benches with Dave- first he taught me to make templates out of masonite for my end supports. This helped with the design element and made the work much more efficient once up and running....

De Young

2011-10-26T20:33:00.000-07:00

I was in San Fransico over the weekend for the Bridge School Benefit Concert and stopped by the De Young to see some photos of Ralph Eugene Meatyard and other good things....

Building

2011-10-24T09:59:00.000-07:00

I'm building 2 ferry seats. I have a friend in Truckee, Dave Hunter, who does wood work (amoung other things) and he is teaching me to draw up measurements based on a photograph, work out dimensions for wood needed, create templates etc. He is coming down to Reno to choose and purchase wood today with me-so the 'chick' does not get ripped off or sold something that she does not actually need...

The seats are based off ferry seating but do not necessarily need to be a strict read of them. I'm hoping that they will act as a temporary stopping point for people visiting the gallery once installed. I want people to take a moment, contemplate? The ferry seat is about the commute, transition....

The ferry ride is also meant to reference the Greek mythology story of Charon, the ferryman of the dead,. He carried the souls of the deceased over the river Styx (or the river Acheron), the river that formed the boundary between earth and the Underworld. He only accepts the dead which are buried or burned with the proper rites, and if they pay him a coin for their passage.

My father also did woodwork. He built various meditation stools so my ferry seat is a gesture to acknowledge his work and the idea of meditation and contemplatation.

Paint?

2011-10-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

I am taking a break from the crows. While I was hoping to use them, it seems they were/are working strongly as 'process' and I was/ am struggling to articulate them. I feel pretty comfortable with a lot of the photo imagery...perhaps elaborating on the collage photo of the discarded crows will be the way to go???
So the crows have been literally cleared from the studio and paint!
I was encouraged to add a painting element to the work. I have not painted for 18 months. I have been resisting this for awhile but will go with it for afew weeks and see what happens... Below are some prepartory drawings to find a direction.
I am also going to construct some ferry seating for the gallery based on the pictures also.

Makes sense, right?

Continued...

2011-10-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

More pictures of crows... I have been doing so many studies in black and white that I am starting to itch for colour (correct spelling by the way- 'Queen's english'). Not alot but something to break it up. I vacillate between using charcoal and ink wash etc alot and intense colour (see paintings here).

I've been creating my own scratchboards also- trying to use exsisting materials that I have or that I have scavanged. I have no shame in dumpster diving or going through the recycling at the school's art department- you can do alot with off cuts, matting cutout, plywood etc

The dog got into the studio and walked across prepped charcoal paper.

Mutton Birds

2011-09-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

The Short tail Shearwater is a bird in Australia commonly know as a 'Mutton Bird'. They are known as mutton birds because they were eaten in huge numbers by early settlers, and are said to taste like mutton (lamb!).

The birds migrate annually, non-stop, from Russia to the rookeries in Victoria and South Australia- about 15,000 kms. Every migration Bermagui gets a an influx of dead mutton birds washed up on the beach- so close to their destination, hundreds die of exhaustion and starvation.

I took some photos on the beach.... I want to use them in my BFA show but they were developed unevenly so I have some work in photo shop to try to even out the development error.....

More crows...

2011-09-12T22:16:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on the crows. I try to do one a day.

pen and ink on canvas

watercolor,ink wash and pen on newsprint

feet detail

ink wash and pen on board

Also did larger graphite pencil and acrylic on watercolor paper ..... a day later was flicking through Art in America and came across a full page ad for Susan Rothenberg works in NY (sigh). I have seen some of Rothenberg's work in Santa Fe, NM at the Georgia O'Keeffe museum. Pretty interesting to see Rothenberg's large, kinetic work next to O'Keeffe's. http://www.okeeffemuseum.org/. I liked both equally for very different reasons.

Archibald Prize, Australia

2011-09-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

The Archibald Prize is an annual art award with the primary aim 'to foster portraiture, support artists and perpetuate the memory of great Australians' in painting. http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/archibald-wynne-sulman-prizes-2011/

Craig Ruddy won in 2004 for his controversial portrait of Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil entitled "Two Worlds". It is pencil on wall paper and a huge piece- 204 x 240cm.

The portrait won both the main prize and the "People's Choice" award. The prize was challenged on the basis that it was a charcoal sketch rather than a painting. The claim was dismissed in court in 2006.

I love this piece- the looseness...very inspiring.

http://www.craigruddy.com.au/

All in the family.

2011-09-05T22:32:00.000-07:00

My mother paints and has a studio in Bermagui, Australia (look it up).
We are miles and miles apart and we both gravitate toward the same subjects, sometimes around the same time......

Preparatory images of work-in-progress!

2011-08-30T22:02:00.000-07:00

I'm using crow imagery in my BFA and have started sketching with India Ink..

A Preview of Work....

2011-08-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

8x8

Created for an 8"x8" art show at Riverside Studios in Truckee, CA.
A group exhibition and fundraising event working strictly on 8"x8"x3/4" unframed, plywood panels.

Opening and reception September 2nd, 4-7pm!

detail of 'School'

School (relief print collage and acrylic)

Bullseye Series

decoy duck II

waterless lithographs

detail

Ceramic pieces

zebra cup

decoy I

ball and chain

Oil Paintings

cups

Guaguin's teapot...

Print photography with a Holga and 35mm.