Of Ravens and Rivers

Overview

Kerry McInnis and Mike MacGregor are two artists living together for over 40 years with a shared interest in their environment, their landscape, wildlife, and waterways. It is timely for them to explore these themes of commonality in their respective practices and to exhibit together.

Kerry McInnis has been painting and drawing the River for many decades. The focus of her renditions of a waterway, wet or dry, has always been to represent the interconnectedness between the river and the earth that shapes it - to investigate the rhythms of liquid and solid form - to layer in paint, the inconstancy of the river - in both its power and vulnerability. Moving away from direct representation, Kerry's recent work explores the idea of the river as a conduit of life, a metaphor of survival.

Mike MacGregor's sculptural oeuvre has had, as its primary theme, the interaction of man and nature. In his recent work, Mike has juxtaposed the forms of Man and the Raven, illustrating what is, between the two, a remarkable connection, both physical and spiritual. In this exhibition, Mike's drawings and sculptures take a deeper look into the Raven's being. Years of observation of the movements, antics, and posture of this bird will become the reference material for this sculptor's work at the forge.