Elizabeth McMahon
Freeville, NY
Social Media
Instagram
Website
elizabethwickendenmcmahon.com
How would you describe your work?
My work is vivid and whimsical: both intimate and body size. I use the large wall works for different kinds of projects. First as stage sets for self-portraits and videos and then as patterns for prints that are altered in a digital collage. There’s a kind of call and response between the wall works and the smaller collages on paper where they exchange ideas and elaborate on the ecology of shapes generated in the studio.
Can you speak about your process?
Hand-painted paper, felt, and fabric, serves as a foundation from which shapes are cut, selected, reworked, and sometimes discarded. The studio is transformed into an ecosystem of possibility as the resulting menageries of forms and debris are recycled and incorporated, altered with stitches, markers, and patterns, and fixed in a fleeting moment of balance.
What inspires you?
Folk Art, nature, fashion, diagrams, signs, markets, art history, and quilts.
How did you become interested in art?
I was around parents who made things. My mother took me to the fabric store and encouraged me to select the material for my party dresses. I tuned into the colors and patterns that pleased me. Then, she taught me to sew and knit and I began to design clothes for my Barbie dolls. I was going to be a fashion designer but after working at a Folk Art Center with the hand-made baskets, cloth dolls, weavings, and masks, I felt a strong pull towards art and changed my focus from design to painting.
Do you have any favorite artists, movies, books, or quotes?
What is spontaneous can be truly inspiring. Follow the Joy. Life is art, make your life as artful as you can.
The Gee’s Bend Quilters Sonia Delauney Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Louise Nevelson, Jo-Ann Greenbaum, Sarah Cain, Mary Heilmann, Philip Guston, Matisse, and Bonnard.
What advice do you have for younger artists?
The best work seems to be the most personal. What are you attracted to… what are you fascinated by…..follow the clues.
Any more thoughts about art, creativity, or anything else you would like to share?
People have been making things for thousands of years…don’t make it such a big deal or you won’t be able to enjoy it.
