Today we’d like to introduce you to Paula McCartney.
Hi Paula, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve lived in Minneapolis since 2005. I grew up in Kansas City and moved to New York City when I was 18 where I went to undergrad and worked in the arts for ten years. From there I moved to San Francisco for graduate school at the San Francisco Art Institute. I’ve been an educator since 2002, beginning with teaching art in the San Francisco County Jails and now teaching photography, professional practice and photo book classes at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. While I have an MFA in photography, I have also added artist books, ceramics and paper marbling to my practice. I work with and combine these different mediums in the series and books that I make.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being an artist, mother and educator has been challenging to navigate at times. These roles all take an enormous amount of energy and while they are rewarding, are unfortunately not always valued-especially in terms of financial and job security. Minnesota offers a rare level of funding for artists and the grants I have received have funded my art practice through the years. I’m especially grateful for the fellowships I’ve received through the McKnight Foundation who awards unrestricted grants to mid-career artists to continue their practice.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I began my art practice considering the idea of a constructed landscape and how people interact with the environment. Working in spaces that I have either physically altered or added to, a kind of collaboration with the natural world. This way of making work is evident in my series and books, Bird Watching and A Field Guide to Snow and Ice.
In recent years, I’ve turned to considering ways that light activates objects and environments and speaks to the complexity of navigating psychological states of being. This work combines my photography and ceramic practice to explore the interconnectedness of light and shadow, presence and absence. It uses the language of black and white analog photography with its negative and positive, minimal palette and strong contrast while considering the visual and emotional weight of a shadow.
Making and teaching photobook is my passion. I love creating work with my hands that viewers in turn can also experience physically. I’m working to push the boundaries of photobooks and incorporate sculptural aspects that encourage the display of the medium.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What I like best about living in Minneapolis is the rich arts community (the artists, exhibition spaces and museums), the beautiful lakes to walk around and canoe in and all the amazing restaurants. What I like least are the long winters that feel like they extend until May each year.
Pricing:
- For pricing information, please inquire through the artist’s website.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.paulamccartney.com/
- Instagram: _paula_mccartney_
