Brought together by punk shows, dance performances and artistic vision, Heather McLaughlin and Kathy MacCrate are now collaborating to create immersive art environments and work on paper. They are excited to see where this journey takes them.
After a few years creating art environments together Kathy and Heather found themselves exploring ways to collaborate during the pandemic. The narrative corpse drawing concept came to mind, where one person starts a drawing and others add on, sometimes blind to the previous contributions. Starting with a few blank pages and then exchanging, Kathy and Heather began to build the simultaneous drawings that eventually became the To Summon Again artist publication. Taking inspiration from the 2021 Sou’Wester Art Week theme, To Reconvene, the two artists explored themes of separation vs connection, shifting vs status, and narrative. Progression. The two artists completed about 15 drawings, 9 of which are included in the publication.
Collaboration VI consisted of three site specific pods installed around the grounds of the 2021 Dundee Lodge Campout. For this installation, the work focuses on the narrative of post-isolation and the re-connecting of communities. The environments are dispersed throughout the grounds, creating a thread that connects the singular, yet shared, experience of the participants. The pods, created from hot pink liquid latex fabric with hot pink printed shapes representing eyes to embryos, encouraged the viewer to go inside, explore, relax, and be transported to a color enhanced experience. This work continues to explore the themes Kathy and Heather find central to their projects, commenting on anatomy, space and magic. In addition to the installations, Kathy and Heather created a new collaborative drawing titled River for the festival zine and program.
When invited by artist and curator Racheral Jones to participate in the We in Wellness exhibition at Gallery 1122 Outdoor, Kathy and Heather were inspired by the Chicken Coop Gallery space to create the intimate Collaboration V. Indigo dyed ropes held by golden plaster hands lead the viewer to look in the nesting boxes, in which miniature archways stared back amongst small lights. Inside of the coop the viewer was transported to a dark and sparkling space with a reflective moon on the ceiling. In addition to the Chicken Coop Gallery, Heather and Kathy also installed Collaboration IV as a sculptural entryway along the bamboo lined driveway area of the home exhibition space.
When invited by artist and curator Racheral Jones to participate in the We in Wellness exhibition at Gallery 1122 Outdoor, Kathy and Heather re-envisioned Collaboration III as a sculptural entryway along the bamboo lined driveway area of the home exhibition space. The open air sculpture allowed the viewer to travel through, reaching a large mirror before entering the main yard space of the exhibition. In addition to the piece in the driveway, Kathy and Heather created the intimate Collaboration V in the 1122 Chicken Coop Gallery.
When invited by artist and curator Racheral Jones to participate in the We in Wellness exhibition at Gallery 1122 Outdoor, Kathy and Heather re-envisioned Collaboration III as a sculptural entryway along the bamboo lined driveway area of the home exhibition space. The open air sculpture allowed the viewer to travel through, reaching a large mirror before entering the main yard space of the exhibition. In addition to the piece in the driveway, Kathy and Heather created the intimate Collaboration V in the 1122 Chicken Coop Gallery.
When invited by artist and curator Racheral Jones to participate in the We in Wellness exhibition at Gallery 1122 Outdoor, Kathy and Heather were inspired by the Chicken Coop Gallery space to create the intimate Collaboration V. Indigo dyed ropes held by golden plaster hands lead the viewer to look in the nesting boxes, in which miniature archways stared back amongst small lights. Inside of the coop the viewer was transported to a dark and sparkling space with a reflective moon on the ceiling. In addition to the Chicken Coop Gallery, Heather and Kathy also installed Collaboration IV as a sculptural entryway along the bamboo lined driveway area of the home exhibition space.
Understanding the complexities and nuances of sexual, gender, and anatomic identity, Heather and Kathy decided to explore the time-age tradition of vaginal representation in art. To some it represents pain, choice, birth, stimulation, disconnect, ancestry, suffering, mystery, science, life. For these two artists, it represents a subject matter that inspired a new collaboration. Outside, the viewer is welcomed by soft sculptures representing larger-than-life green labias. Once inside the viewer is transported to a cosmic dark space with a grassy floor. This installation was exhibited in 2019 at the Ideological Outsider Art Show, curated by Brianna Peaslee and Becky Kaye at the Dundee Lodge Campout Volume II in Gaston OR
