A Look at Andy McKelvy's Art by Cindy Haase



Botanical in Black and White

Solar Power

I was at the Art Center on the 8th for our January LAC Board meeting.  A painting caught my eye, and I knew immediately it was the work of Andy McKelvy.   She's one of the artists at LAC whose work I greatly admire. 

Why do I admire her art?  Of all the art concepts: value, shape, color, texture and line....Andy uses shapes and values expertly.  If you look at her "Botanical in Black and White" piece, I think you will see that her composition was well thought out to take advantage of the contrast of shapes and the values to make her drawing come alive.  She didn't have color as a tool, and while texture and line are used they are not her major tools in this piece.  It's the shapes, some small and delicate, some large and solid.

Looking at "Solar Power",  again she has used shapes and value to her advantage.  The white shapes virtually pop out of the painting when contrasted against the dark negative shapes. This time she did employ the tool of color, texture and line, but the painting is really not about the color...its' about the glorious shapes.  If I look at the painting and then close my eyes.....my memory of the painting is about the shapes and value/contrast. 

Notice I haven't talked about the media at all....here it's not really important.  It just goes to prove a point I believe.  Good art is good art no matter what the medium.  These pieces would work in any media.  They are very strong.  Well done Andy!!

Postscript...If you want to see some fabulous line work take a look at Katy Haas' wire sculptures.

Wire Sculpture - not as easy as it seems!

Katy and her creations


What a great time we all had on Saturday as artist Katy Haas showed us how she creates her intricate wire sculptures. Not only did she explain her process but she also challenged each of us to create a "simple" piece ourselves. Explaining that this process is largely one she developed on her own, she told us about the different wires and tools needed to bend and twist the wire into a recognizable shape. She works from her own designs, creating a contour drawing of the subject to use as a pattern for each sculpture. As her agile fingers make the wire conform to the pattern, it seemed so easy to get all the little shapes needed. But then it was our turn - we each had a pattern for a bear to work from. It became very obvious from the start that bending that wire to fit this shape was not so easy. Sometimes it seemed as if we were all thumbs, but we kept at it until amazingly the creature began to take shape. There was lots of laughter and excitement and sharing of the experience as Katy patiently worked with us individually to get the desired results. By the end of the hour we could all proudly display our little wire critter.

Thanks, Katy, for providing us with such a wonderful demonstration!
Cindy Ahrenkiel and friend


Beautiful work!