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June Issue 2005
Gallery 9 in Banner Elk, NC, Offers Works by Jessie Stuart Mackay and iGNiS
Kicking off the summer show season while celebrating 9 years of operation, Gallery 9 near Banner Elk, NC, will offer an explosion of color and form in Jessie Mackay's oil paintings complemented by studio glass from iGNiS of Chattanooga, TN. The exhibition will run from June 11 through July 9, 2005.
Jessie Mackay, a peripatetic painter who views the world as a canvas, paints all those "seen 'em before" kind of places with the fresh innocence of one who loves the excuse to paint in order to go off and explore. His paintings of quaint villages in Provence, the boatyard scenes in Nova Scotia, the vast ranch scapes of Wyoming; all so familiar as though we're remembering them from one of those idyllic dreams you wake up from feeling refreshed, are what viewers have come to expect from Mackay.
Mackay's previous life held little of the charm her brushes capture, but even in the grittiest of environments she saw potential. She worked as an international management consultant and found herself fascinated by the "humanosity" of assembly line workers in the auto plants she was hired to evaluate. After hours would find her back in the plants, shedding statistics and data for a sketchpad and pencil.
Mackay's body of work still holds some of the early inspiration. Of her favorite subjects are the lone elderly figures navigating through life; on tractors at cow farms, sweeping village doorsteps, selling chickens in the market or strolling the alleys of Hong Kong, Ecuador, Ireland and Nova Scotia. Often, backs are turned or faces have no featuresthe stance itself says it all. The determined posture of one caught up in the job at hand, not so unlike the workers of a consultant's environment.
When Mackay comes home, it's to her atelier in Pinehurst, NC. But never for long. Her website includes a newsletter with updates of her meanderings and combined with her gallery subjects it reads like a dog-eared atlas. Her work at Gallery 9 will include recent oils from Wyoming as well as Nova Scotia, France, Ecuador as well as the animals and people of those far away places.
Featured with Mackay's oils will be the art
glass from iGNiS studio in Chattanooga. After six years at the
Appalachian Center for Crafts in Smithville, TN, Chris Mosey set
off on his own in 2002 to pursue traditional Italian glass blowing
techniques that result in both functional and sculptural designs.
A year later, former schoolmate and cherished friend Desiree Biggers,
joined Mosey. The two of them became a sensation in Chattanooga
as a smart successful small business making art worthy of the
permanent collection at the Tennessee State Museum.
iGNiS glass incorporates bold colors in intriguing series including
nature, space and archaeology themes. It's easy to imagine their
signature urn being unearthed from a dig dating back to the age
of pharaohs. Flutter bowls, threaded vases, sand bottles and pillar
candleholders offer a striking range of surfaces and colors. IGNiS
quickly found a following in novice and seasoned collectors.
For more information check our NC Commercial Gallery listing,
call the gallery at 828/963-6068 or at (www.gallery9.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.