ARTIST: CONSTANCE MCBRIDE
Art Histories are highly curated presentations of an artists’ life’s work provided for appreciators today, scholars of tomorrow, and generations to come.
Constance McBride delves into gender-based issues with ceramic sculpture, installations and mixed media collage. Recent awards include a CFEVA (Center for Emerging Visual Artists) 2023 New Courtland Teaching Fellowship, a position in the 2021 Chautauqua Visual Arts Summer Residency Program in Chautauqua, New York and grants from The Puffin Foundation, Philadelphia Sculptors and Phoenix Art Museum's Contemporary Forum.
Her work has appeared in Europe at La Providence Art Centre, Ille sur Tet, France and Zilverhof Art Space, Ghent, Belgium and has been shown in a variety of venues throughout the United States, including at Phoenix Art Museum (AZ), The Delaware Contemporary (DE), The Clay Studio (PA) and Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts (MT). It has received attention from several publications including Yahoo News Cities Rising series, Artblog, Phoenix Magazine and the international platforms Inspirational Art and Ceramics Now. Currently based in the Philadelphia metro area, she teaches sculpture and hand building and is a guest host of the show Art Watch at WCHE Radio Station in West Chester, PA. McBride earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Arcadia University, Glenside, PA.
“The artist’s figurative clay and mixed-media sculptures are often breathtaking. McBride’s mastery of the ceramic medium is easily recognized, but it is how she parallels human life to that which withers that makes her work haunting and unforgettable.”
Artist Statement
My work throws light on the complex issues experienced by most women—from becoming aware of the male gaze and self-objectifying, to harassment, abuse, marginalization and ageism. Simultaneously, women struggle to remain relevant, take care of their physical and mental health, and maintain financial stability. And like most women, I've had firsthand experience with all of it; from finding my way as a young single mother to having spent a large chunk of my adult years in a male dominated corporate world, to navigating the art world later in life. My uncompromising figures are informed by these matters. I strive to create deliberate parallels between my materials and how women are treated in society. I often use clay—a medium historically excluded from the fine art world—to illustrate how age is explicitly linked to failure for women. Living in the Southwest where pottery traditions have lasted thousands of years, greatly influenced my approach to clay. The pieces are hand built and sometimes include bits of nature, found objects, fabric and wires. I apply surface treatments like graphite, stains and wax to emphasize the textures and characteristics of living, breathing skin. I display my figures as solitary objects on plinths or hung on walls to create an intimate viewing experience, or as part of larger installations—interacting with collages, paintings, and other related works to foster an immersive environment. My path to art was circuitous and since relocating from the Southwest back to the Northeast I am realizing how this has impacted the work. It continues to evolve as I adapt to my environment and consider ways I am being influenced by it.
COLLECTION: THE LONELY GIRLS
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Artist Statement
Work on my project The Lonely Girls began after my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and moved from her home to an assisted living facility. Seven Lonely Girls were made between 2011 and 2013. Years later, during the pandemic, I felt a need to revisit the series. Thinking back on how she navigated her remaining years while living with the disease coupled with statistics indicating among other things that women with dementia outnumber men two to one, nudged me into making more. What transpired in nursing homes at the start of the pandemic reinforced my decision to continue. Between 2021 and 2023 seven more were completed. Life is difficult for women throughout their lives but becomes especially hard once an illness prevents them from engaging in society as usual. When that illness is dementia, it's nearly impossible. Of the 6.2 million people with Alzheimer's disease who are age 65 or older in this country, almost two-thirds are women. Women in their 60s are more than TWICE AS LIKELY to develop Alzheimer's disease over the rest of their lives as they are to develop breast cancer.
PUBLICATION
Paperclay: Art and Practice
Written by Rosette Gault
Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018
ISBN: 9781912217595
PUBLICATION
Who's Afraid of Feminism
by Women's Caucus for Art
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015
ISBN: 978-1514231906
COLLECTION: Liminal Spaces
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Artist Statement
My figures reside in a land of shadows, phantoms, unrealities, or uncertainties. Since being back east, I've been in transition; between where I was and where I am. I've technically been transplanted back home yet think, where is home really? Anthropologist Arnold van Gennep first wrote about the concept of liminality when he developed the idea of the rites of passage, "To be in a liminal space means to be on the precipice of something new but not quite there yet... Life can be thought of as one liminal space between birth and death. Liminality can also be an opportunity for transformation. It might not have been the path you would have chosen, but it is the path you are on now." Liminal Spaces references life transitions using an ancient Celtic symbol and elements in nature existing within natural environments. Desert floors and desert spirals are formed with sand, dirt and collected bits of debris from the Sonoran Desert Preserve in Phoenix, Arizona.Raw materials collected from the woods of Chester County, PA sometimes make a design reminiscent of a labyrinth; a sacred place to center oneself in the midst of chaos. Forest spirals incorporate branches, dirt and sand along with bark from The Sacred Oak of Berks County, PA, a nod to resiliency throughout the passage of time. The spiral pattern is the oldest symbol in Celtic culture and is thought to represent the sun or the radiation of ethereal energy. The direction of a spiral also represents energy in two ways; emergence and growth and drawing inward, as we do throughout life's journey. With these installations, I am attempting to draw from nature's energy and generate new spaces for regeneration and resilience.
COLLECTION: WHISPERERS
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Artist Statement
Whisperers is a series I began after losing my mother to Alzheimer's disease. Ancestors like past selves, continue to whisper.
PRESS
Constance McBride in her studio. Image courtesy of Suzie Barber.
Episode: November 10, 2021
Amie Potsic interviews Constance McBride about her upcoming exhibition, The Lonely Girls, opening on Nov. 12 at Tubbs Gallery, Rehoboth Beach Arts League.
Click here to listen to the Art Watch podcast episode.
Episode: September 9, 2020
Constance McBride discusses her solo show and 10-year retrospective, Between Two Worlds, featuring three series; The Lonely Girls, From the Hearts of Stars, and Timescapes.
Click here to listen to the Art Watch podcast episode.
ArtShow with Constance McBride
Host Craig Stover interviews Constance McBride about her collection, Lonely Girls, September 2023
"Conversations" Artist Talk with Sculptor Constance McBride
City Arts Salon, April 2023
Highlights Include:
12 Female Artists Unite For Chester County’s
Best Art Exhibit of 2023
Written By Melissa Jacobs
Beauty in the Ephemeral - The Sculptures of Constance McBride
Written By David P. Kozinski
© Constance McBride, Whisperers (side view), 10” x 13” x 11”, Ceramic, Graphite, 2014
The Beauty of Stillness: For Your Consideration
Written by Alice Chambers
The Beauty of Stillness Installation View, Artwork by Constance McBride, Daria Panichas, Richard Hricko, and Geoffrey Agrons, InLiquid Gallery, 2022 © Photo Courtesy of InLiquid, 2022
Thriving Art in Chester County
Written by Victoria Rose
Constance McBride, Lonely Girl Room 4732 © Photo by Rick Davis
New art league exhibits explore themes of memory, life and death
Written By Kait Moore
Constance McBride, The Lonely Girls series installation, Rehoboth Art League, 2021 © Photo by Kait Moore, 2021
© Constance McBride, Whisperers, 10” x 13” x 11”, Ceramic, Graphite, 2014
To acquire artwork from Constance McBride’s collection, email cmcb@constancemcbride.com.
To follow Constance McBride on Instagram, visit constancemcbride_art.
Click here to download Constance McBride’s CV.
To learn more about the artist: www.constancemcbride.com
Banner Image: © Constance McBride, The Lonely Girls (Group Shot), Ceramic, Wood Plant Stands, 2023
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