Two Chicago artists are exploring memory, materials and perspective in a new exhibit that invites viewers to consider how fragments of the past shape the present.
“In All Directions at Once,” Works in Dialogue by Kelly McKaig and Deborah Newmark opened Saturday, March 7, at the Beverly Arts Center. The exhibit is displayed in the center’s Jack Simmerling Gallery and was organized by the Beverly Area Arts Alliance.
The show brings together the distinct but complementary practices of the two Chicago artists, whose works explore memory, process and the relationships that emerge when materials and ideas are layered together.
For McKaig, fabric-based practices are central to both her life and her work. Sewing, knitting, dyeing and quilting serve as connections to the past, as reclaimed clothing, linens, yarn and thread become part of her studio practice.
Incorporating these materials allows McKaig to reflect on what she describes as the “rendings and losses” found in objects that have lived many lives. Through the process, viewers are invited to recognize how traces of the past remain interwoven with the present.
Her work in the exhibit features cyanotypes, a camera-less photographic printing process developed in the 19th century by John Herschel. The technique uses iron salts — potassium ferricyanide and ferric ammonium citrate — to create cyan-blue prints after objects are placed on coated surfaces and exposed to ultraviolet light before being rinsed in water.
“The cyanotypes really emphasize the radical horizon — where everywhere you look is a horizon line. The horizon is in all directions at once,” McKaig said. “It’s about seeing things from a different point of view.”
McKaig said the imagery and color palettes in her work play off the pieces created by Newmark, creating a visual conversation between the artists.
Newmark’s drawings and paintings rely heavily on intuition and improvisation. Her work often incorporates mismatched fragments, recycled scraps and cut-up pieces that are rearranged and layered to form something entirely new.
Through a combination of mixed media, gesture and materials, she creates compositions that grow organically as each mark leads to another.
“It’s very serendipity to work in a way of association,” Newmark said.
One piece in the exhibit, titled “Shift,” reflects that philosophy.
“‘Shift’ is a drawing that has been made, cut up, reassembled and made into a new mold so all of the directions are reorganized, confused and reoriented, and that’s how we look at life,” Newmark said. “Everything is thrown at us and we have to make sense out of it.”
Newmark said she often finds inspiration during walks in nature, where the patterns and unexpected relationships she observes influence the evolving forms in her work.
According to Sal Campbell of the Beverly Area Arts Alliance, the Jack Simmerling Gallery at the Beverly Arts Center was a natural fit for the exhibition.
“This is my favorite gallery in all of Chicagoland,” Campbell said.
Together, the exhibit highlights how two artists working in different mediums can create a shared dialogue — one built from memory, experimentation and the unexpected ways pieces come together.
