May McCalmon
One of My Homes
KP: If you were to give an artist talk about the work, what would be the key thing you would want us to take away from it that we may not automatically see?
MM: My goal is for viewers to take away a feeling of nostalgia of their own lives. I realize that many people may not have had a positive childhood experience, but I also hope to address how those memories may be bittersweet. If someone decided to call their mom after seeing my show, I would find that an extremely endearing response to my work. Connections to loved ones are so important when life gets away from us.
KP: With your paintings, was there any or what painting do you feel was the most challenging to create?
MM: My painting "Phyllis" is based of a photograph of my grandmother, so I felt a lot of pressure to capture her energy in that painting as well as to represent her features accurately. In other paintings that have more blocks of color I found some challenges because I was painting in a newer style by incorporating those flatter aspects.