Contact me: info@allisonmcelroy.com
In 2003 I received a Graduate Fellowship to study in Lacoste, France. My focus of study was On-Site Installation. "202 Steps" is the largest installation completed during my residency. The Ochre was mined in Roussillon, France from the Luberon.
Lesson: Always think of clean up! The animals in the village tracked the ochre in the homes of their owners and least I say the villagers were very upset with my installation. I had to clean up the installation immediately. The awesome other 7 grad residency artist as well as our Professor helped me clean it up. We had to get a hose and start at the top of the village and squirt water in the crack to loosen the ochre. Many of us had brooms and swept the blood colored pigment all the way down the village mountain. I only wish I had documented the clean up! It was lovely. Once the pigment was washed away I had to knock on doors and apologize to the residence of Lacoste.
Lovely memory.
On site Installation in Lacoste, France. I purchased ochre of the Luberon which is mined in Roussillon to outline the path of my daily walk.
The cobble streets in the village were mossy and slippery at certain times of the day. It was my focus on this path that kept me stable as I walked as well as act as a transitory vehicle to creative thought.
Apartment on the left = start of 202 steps.
Arial View of the installation
Detail
Arial View wrapping around the Boulangerie (Bakery) with people stopping to view.
My studio on the left looked out over the Luberon
Materiality intrigues me. Objects become words and with this I can write a poem.
steel, copper, glass vial, pine cone, handmade paper, pine saplings, masking tape
bark, string, copper, bone
copper, bronze, steel, string, pine bark, lizard skeleton on handmade paper
tea bags, ink, 17" x 12"
graphite, coffee stain, micro slides on clay board.
Chosen by Cora Rosevear, Associate Curator of Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art New York, New York,
Steel, paper, receipt paper burned with solder iron, hornet nest cells.
hog gut, wool, silk, coffee,
These pods were made after the Atlas Moth cocoon.
Wire on handmade paper
9"x 7"
2'x2'x2"
Paper, copper, steel, chicken skull, pine bark, hand knitted wire, hawk feather (mind), dove feather (heart) on wood panel
book page, hog gut, rust, fabric, stitched string.
17" x 14"
wasp nest, phone book pages
12"x7"x2"
Jurors top pick, published in catalog and shown at The National Association of Women Artists (N.A.W.A.) New York, NY
I received a faculty research grant to collect soil from all 50 states. After receiving the soil I added gum arabic to make a watercolor consistency and vinegar to get an ink like consistency. These are the drawings completed with some of the soil samples.
The research has taking an interesting turn. I am now working with a microbiologist at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. I am taking the soil samples and looking for diodes from each state. Research in progress = Stay tuned for visual images.
I BFA was individualized and I was able to choose my path of study. I was as interested in sculpture as I was painting. After graduation I worked for two years with blacksmith artist Ivan Bailey and learned more than I ever did in my sculpture classes.
Ivan was kind, patient, and a wonderful teacher who instilled in me a love of metal.
I collected 102 Green Bean Leaves that had been eaten into a lace like pattern by Japanese Beatles. Housed them in a petri dish on black felt and sealed it with bees wax
Leaf installation. Size each one is 3 1/2". Installation varies with space allotted.
Each leaf was housed in a petri dish on top of a piece of black felt and then sealed with bees wax
I collected 102 different spiderwebs in France. Each web was 3"x2"x1"
Box with a poem etched in the bottom inside. Silver, Bronze, and copper. 3" x 4" x 2"
Paper Clay Sculpture
I took a wasp nest and packed paper clay in the nest and then put it in a raku kiln
Paper clay sculpture
Paper Clay Sculpture
Paper Clay Sculpture
Pregnant bust covered in hornet nest paper
18"x18"x18"
paper, stain, atlas moth cocoon, leather with nails,
2'x2'x2"
Pine bark, urethane, book page, hog gut, hand knitted wire
I studied painting in undergrad and although I was in the painting program at SCAD Savannah in Grad school I was encouraged to explore materials in 3D fibers with Cayewah Easley.
I love materials but sometimes I miss the smell of oils in the studio and love to revisit the canvas on occasion.
Lost my dog of 18 years. Bean was given to me by Howard Finster back in 1992 when I was visiting his Paradise Gardens. She was a special dog indeed.
First spider web captured in France. I decided to do an oil painting of it.
Oil, tar, conte, graphite on board, 4'x2'x2"
Oil paint on canvas, 3'x4'
Oil paint, stain, tar, graphite, conte, pastels and urethane on board, 4'x3'x2"
collage on paper, ink, photo transfer, acrylic paint,
22"x30"
Oil paint on board, 4'x4'x2"
Graphite on hand made paper, 8"x6"
graphite and acrylic on hand made paper
9"x7"
graphite, prisma color pencils, charcoal on bristol
17"x14"
Workshop with Golden products and Alabama Art Supplies. Love the products!!
These are images of my daily walks, my fur babies, my studio, and just things that I capture with my camera phone that inspire my creative spirit.
Under the coffee table
Joshua took me to meet the elephants at the Atlanta Zoo for my birthday. I was able to pet her :)
Gracie, Charlie Piper, and Moose
I am working with Dr. Benjie G. Blair, a microbiologist from
Jacksonville State University, on some new experiments that merge art and science.
First experiment is painting in a 3D agar form...just the beginning.
Sketches of daily life. Inspired by awesomely unique people and experiences. One of my life goals has always been to write a novel but after 48 years of getting to know myself very well; I believe it will just be my life recorded in pictures.
My book of pictures is named after my dog Bean. I was visiting Howard Finster, the famous folk artist, Paradise Gardens and he had a pen full of puppies. I asked if I could have one and he said "sure". Ms. Bean lived 18 interesting years. I love that dog and still think of her daily.
my first attempt to bake a Lemon Meringue Pie.
