Carolyn McKay

Carolyn was born in Newcastle and has recently returned after a long absence. Her practice encompasses painting, digital video and photomedia and she has been exhibiting since 1996. Her recent video works explore the criminal justice system and have been exhibited in solo shows including Word of Mouth at Dedspace, SCA 2009 and Reports of Crime Etc., Etc., at The Lock-Up 2010 as well as at The Cube, Mosman Art Gallery 2011. Carolyn’s video works have been selected for group shows including 2039: The Dean’s List, Verge Gallery University of Sydney 2009, New Ideas (Historic Houses Trust and d/Lux/Media/Arts) Government House 2010 and Reflections – an exploration of the body in video art, Bondi Pavilion 2011. She has been invited by Waverley Council to curate the next Illuminations video art screening, entitled Anakhronismos, at Bondi Pavilion 27 January 2012.

As for painting, Carolyn has held solo shows at James Harvey Gallery and Cooks Hill Galleries, been a finalist twice in the Archibald Prize and has had nine portraits selected for the Portia Geach Memorial Award. Her work has been selected for other major exhibitions including Salon des Refusés – both Archibald and Wynne (SH Ervin Gallery), 10x10x10 (Mosman Art Gallery), Fishers Ghost Art Award (Campbelltown Arts Centre), Conrad Jupiters Art Prize (Gold Coast City Art Gallery), Redlands Westpac Art Prize (Mosman Art Gallery), The Waterhouse Natural History Prize (South Australian Museum), the John Glover Art Prize in Tasmania, Waverley Art Prize and the Mosman Art Prize (Mosman Art Gallery).

Overseas group exhibitions include Kvinna! Nainen! Woman! at Pargas City Gallery, Finland, A Book About Death at The Emily Harvey Foundation, New York and The Tabernacle, MoMA Wales, Um Livro Sobre a Morte and TROYART at Museu Brasileiro da Escultura, São Paulo, Brazil and Agency of Unrealized Projects at Kopfbau, Basel.

The recipient of many awards, Carolyn has also been selected for residencies at The Lock-Up in Newcastle 2009 and Bundanon 2005. Since returning to Newcastle, she facilitated the Bright Sparkes project in her suburb of Georgetown, funded by Newcastle Council’s Placemaking program.

Australian public collections include Blacktown City Council, Bundanon Trust, The Lock-Up Cultural Centre, Mosman Council and Waverley Council. Overseas, the unbound A Book About Death collection (group show in New York) has been acquired by the LA County Museum of Art Research Library, Los Angeles and MoMA, New York. The Um Livro Sobre a Morte and TROYART works have become part of the permanent collection of Museu Brasileiro da Escultura, São Paulo, Brazil.

Carolyn completed postgraduate studies at Sydney College of the Arts and is now undertaking criminology/visual arts research, co-supervised by Sydney Law School and Sydney College of the Arts. She teaches at both Newcastle Art School and Sydney College of the Arts.

Web: www.carolynmckay.com
Blogs: www.artofcriminology.blogspot.com
http://www.brightsparkeslivingplace.blogspot.com/