Searching, Always Searching

              Paintings and Drawings by Joe McGee, 1980-2024

                                           along with

                              Sculptures by Sam Richards

Soon, I will be 70 years old (a day after this opening reception in fact), and I have been making my art daily now for well over 4 decades. I take this opportunity at Kore Gallery to display a selection of my drawings and paintings, going all the way back to 1980. For it was that year, 8 years after graduation from high school (my lost years), that I decided to enroll at the Hite Art Institute, University of Louisville, to learn “how to be an artist”. It was a life changing experience, and indeed I did become an artist after receiving my BFA degree in Sculpture in 1986.

And what have I been trying to prove to myself in my art all these years? The answer is simple. Like most artists I suppose, I am searching for that one perfect (in my opinion) artwork! Searching, always searching! Have I found it? I’ve gotten close a few times! :) For more on my art: www.joemcgeeart.com

Note on Sam Richards: Though I majored in sculpture at U of L, I am not exhibiting any of my 3D work here in deference to the small selection of sculpture by artist Sam Richards that I am sharing this exhibit space with at Kore Gallery. Sam, my sculpture teacher (as well as so many other talented sculpture majors he taught at U of L), died so tragically early, at just age 48 in 1994. Professor Richards was an excellent instructor (I had 3 main studio teachers at U of L, I must also mention Henry Chodkowski, Painting, and Jim Grubola, Drawing, all 3 were outstanding teachers/artists and were hugely influential to my own development). Sam loved teaching, but in my mind he was a practicing sculptor first and foremost. He just had such a strong internal drive in the making of his art, and then was equally driven to exhibit far and wide in order for his sculpture to be seen by as many people as possible. As a result of his efforts, Sam would become widely collected. I think he was getting close to breaking big in the artworld (Sam did as well, he had great confidence in what he was doing). Here, let’s revisit Sam’s amazing sculpture and life. For more: /www.samrichardsart.com

Joe McGee (me), b. 1954. I received my BFA in Sculpture from the University of Louisville in 1986. I have now been making art for well over 35 years. Please take a look at some of my work on this site. Enjoy!

Below: My working wall in my studio, pic a few years old now, but I look the same now as a creaky 62 year old artist. No more sculpture, but I can still paint!

3 Generations of McGee Art

My site also includes a couple pages on the work of my father, folk painter Hagan McGee, still painting daily in heaven! Bless you Dad!

And, I have a page on the Fiber Art of my daughter, Tasha McGee, as well!

The 3 of us had an exhibit at Spalding University in 2011, Three Generations of McGee Art!

Below: Tasha, my father Hagan and me down at dad's birthplace, Manton, KY, summer of 2016. His final trip down to his beloved birthplace. He passed Dec., 2017, age 90.

For the Children of Flowers
Paintings by Joe McGee

            Why flowers? Well, I have always been drawn to them. I grew up here in Louisville with my brothers and sisters surrounded by flowers. My mother Grace (and her mother and her mother before) had flower beds everywhere it seemed. The different colors, shapes and textures fascinated me as a child. And more importantly, we learned early on that flowers were a source of food for insects and birds, and that they in turn pollinated the vegetables and fruit trees my father (along with my maternal grandfather) raised in our large back yard garden. Flowers, beautiful and necessary, a gift for us all from the heavens above as we share this planet together. So here, I attempt to capture, from my mind (these are all imagined works), the beauty and mystery of flowers!
            As a lifelong Louisvillian, it is a pleasure to show my take on the time-honored genre of Floral Paintings at Swanson Contemporary. I must admit, when I first began this series at the end of 2016, I had Chuck’s place (with its cool large storefront windows facing Market Street) in mind. And symbolically to me, this section of downtown Louisville, which once thrived as an important agricultural business center/gathering place for the farmers of the region, connects to my own family history. The old Haymarket complex, now long gone, was located only blocks away. There for decades, farmers such as my grandfather, Herman Breitenstein, sold their crops in the huge market complex. And they bought their seeds each year at Bunton Seed, another of the many agricultural supply businesses also formerly located nearby. Most are now long gone, relegated to the history books of Louisville. So, my flowers are a perfect fit at Swanson Gallery, right at home on E. Market Street, part the former bustling center of agricultural life here in Louisville!

            Finally, I created this series to honor my parents (Grace Jane and James Hagan McGee) for showing their children the amazing beauty of the natural world we all shared together in our large back yard. There, the many flower beds, fruit trees and the huge vegetable garden taught us that the things we grew were not only beautiful, but connected and vital for our lives. I thank my good parents for the flowers they have given their children!