McClain Percy
My paintings are thoughts and questions brought to tangible reality; I am driven by curiosity to see unique perspectives that can become overlaid by standardizing definitions. For the past decade, my work focused on creating art in an academic context, using visuality as means to explore thorny social and cultural issues. The resulting artworks and writings have been published and performed at conferences and galleries in America, Europe, and Australia. Recently I relocated to the USA after living overseas for many years and now paint from my dedicated studio in North Carolina.
I am drawn to art that resists exact definitions. My current work explores points of transition between our natural world and the manmade structures and strictures we inflict upon it. Juxtaposition between how things occur inherently and the unnatural ways we chose to see, enact, and define it interests me considerably. Using watermedia techniques applied in numerous transparent layers, my paintings start as a base alive with vibrant colors flowing in complex organic shapes. Subsequent layers are negative painted in an unnaturally white, blanketing veneer to impose artificial order atop chaotic color. The resulting interstitial spaces can be foregrounded or backgrounded, inviting the viewer into a visual conversation while resisting exact definition.
RECENT EXHIBITIONS
Peelin’ in the Years, Peel Gallery, Carrboro, NC, December 2021- January 2022
State of the Art 11th Annual Show, State of the Art Gallery, Ithaca, NY. Juror: Rick Pirozzolo, December 2021
Cancer: Never Give Up!, Gallierium, November – December 2021
Vibrant Landscapes, Red Bluff Gallery, Jurors: Phil Dynan & Anastasia Nelson, November – December 2021
Annual Juried Exhibition, North Carolina Watercolor Society, Juror: Tom Francesconi, October – November 2021 (Central Region Award)
7° Salon international Art Resilience International Exhibition, Musée de Peinture de Saint-Frajou; Saint-Frajou, France, Juror: Ksenia Milicevic, August – September 2021.
Red, White, and Blue Show, Arts Council of Wayne County, Goldsboro, NC. Juror: Hannah Williams, August – September 2021 (Awarded 2nd Overall)
2021 Regional Art Show, The Associated Artists of Southport, Southport, NC. Jurors: Kirah Sickle and Brian Evans, July – August 2021
Black and White, Colors of Humanity Art Gallery, Juror: Janelle Cogan, July 2021
Compass Rose Gallery, Compass Rose Brewery Gallery, Raleigh, NC, June – July 2021
Compass Rose Gallery, Compass Rose Brewery Gallery, Raleigh, NC, May – June 2021
Waterway Art Association 30th Exhibit, Sunset River Marketplace, Calabash, NC. Jurors: Jeff Brown and Catherine Porter Brown, April-May 2021 (2nd Place Overall)
Breathe: Protections, Paradigms, Pandemic, Shenandoah Valley Arts Center, Waynesboro, VA. Juror: Piper Groves, December 2020-January 2021
State of the Art 10th Annual Show, State of the Art Gallery, Ithaca, NY. Juror: Katherine Page, December 2020
Patterns, Grey Cube Gallery, Online. October 2020 (Honorable Mention and Honorable Mention)
Waterway Art Association 29th Annual Art Show, Sunset River Marketplace, Calabash, NC. Juror: Keri Feuer, September 2020 (Merit Award)
3rd Annual Women Artists - 15th Quarterly Art Competition Juried Art Exhibition, Fusion Art Gallery, September-December 2020
Wet Paint, Colors of Humanity Art Gallery, September 2020
Clayton Art Faire, Gallery Exhibition and Fall Festival, Clayton, NC. Juror: Jean Grunewald, September 2020
4th Annual Patterns Art Exhibition, LightSpaceTime Gallery, September 2020 (Special Recognition Award)
Textures & Patterns, Art Room Contemporary Gallery, August 2020 (Merit Award)
Wooden Boat Show, Southport, NC, September 2020 (Awarded 2nd place)
PUBLICATIONS
Percy, L. M. (2017). Seeing learning disability through a re/claimed book: A narrative inquiry drawing on arts-based methodologies to visually represent experiences of learning disability (Doctoral dissertation, University of Bristol, Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, Bristol, UK).
Percy, M., 2016. Mode, metadata, and montage: Narrating learning disability from two lines. Qualitative Inquiry, 22(3), pp.169-174.
Percy, M., 2014. Seeing learning disability: A re/claimed book. In J. Speedy & J. Wyatt (eds), Creative Practitioner Inquiry in the Helping Professions, pp. 16-21.
Gale, K.; Gallant, M.; Gannon, S.; Kirkpatrick, D.; Malthouse, M.; Percy, M.; Perrier, M.; Porter, S.; Rippin, A.; Sakellariadis, A.; Speedy, J.; Wyatt, J.; Wyatt, T., 2014. Inquiring Into Red. In J. Speedy & J. Wyatt (eds). Collaborative Writing as Inquiry, pp. 248-269.
Percy, M., 2013. Seeing learning disability through re/claiming a book: An a/r/tographic inquiry. In R. Irwin & A. Sinner (eds), A/r/tography and the Arts, pp. 1- 13.
Gale, K.; Gallant, M.; Gannon, S.; Kirkpatrick, D.; Malthouse, M.; Percy, M.; Perrier, M.; Porter, S.; Rippin, A.; Sakellariadis, A.; Speedy, J.; Wyatt, J.; Wyatt, T., 2013. Inquiring into Red/Red Inquiring. Humanities, 2, pp. 253-277.
Percy, M., 2013. Pages from Different Art: New Essays on Disability and the Arts, in ed. Christopher R. Smit. London and Toronto: Intellect Books / University of Chicago Press.