Kerri McGill, from Boston, was the 2020 Masterton District Fellow supported by the Masterton District Council.
McGill's art practice is mixed-media map collage dreamscapes which she describes as "poetic observations of humanity". Her internal map is made of mountains, valleys and twisting streets of New England, where she works as a scenic artist for film, undertaking large-scale projects and a range of technical processes, yet her early work was intimate narratives in oil. She has held an artist residency in Buenos Aires and done creative work in Dubai.
Her participation in Copenhagen's Neuroaesthetics Conference galvanized her interest in the connection between vision and self manufactured realities, and grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council have supported her exploration of the effects of city planning on quality of life.
As an artist, Kerri McGill is both researcher and storyteller. Drawings and maps are the starting point for her Masterton District Fellowship as she reflects on the beauty of the Wairarapa landscape and also on the larger themes of the changing environment.
During her stay in Wairarapa, McGill presented at Wai Art and Masterton Art Club, created in the studio space at ConArt in the Masterton Arts Quarter, collaborated with the Outdoor Poems project to construct a mural for Jackson Street, and has been interviewed by Wairarapa Times-Age and Radio New Zealand. In June, she presented at Wairarapa Word, and in July, a solo show at The Miracle Room in Featherston. She writes about her residency here.
For more, visit her website.