Show Preview | Peggy McGivern

Denver, CO
Saks Galleries, May 17-June 8

Peggy McGivern, Sparrows, mixed media, 48 x 60.

Peggy McGivern, Sparrows, mixed media, 48 x 60.

This story was featured in the May 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art May 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

“THE DEPTH AND beauty of a nest seems to depend more upon the materials at hand, the experience, genius, and hurry of the workers, than upon any other circumstances, each pair of birds shaping their home after their own ideas.” Artist Peggy McGivern first read that intriguing observation when she happened upon a copy of America’s Other Audubon by Joy M. Kiser, which chronicles the extraordinary but largely unsung work of 19th-century amateur naturalist and painter Genevieve Jones; Jones’ brother Howard had written the evocative quote. Inspired by those words, McGivern began to fashion the first of some 30 mixed-media images that make up her latest solo show, entitled A Sparrow’s Refuge, which opens this month at Saks Galleries in Denver. The artist is on hand for the opening reception on Friday, May 17, from 5 to 8 p.m.

The symbolic nature of nests—at once sheltering, nurturing, and creative—spoke powerfully to McGivern, who’s based in Denver and Taos. “My art is my nest,” she explains. “If I am the sparrow, my art is my refuge, where I feel comfortable and at home.” But don’t expect to see in her show precise illustrations in the style of a 19th-century ornithologist. “I usually start with photo references of nests, but then I work outwards from there, and I may abstract the narrative.”

Her approach includes a dynamic combination of media: she begins her compositions with acrylic paints, then she may add char-coal, soft pastels, oil pastels, and a mixture of sand and salt she sometimes throws at the canvas “to take me in a different direction.” Just as a bird may weave found objects into the fabric of a nest, McGivern may be spontaneously moved to incorporate such materials as twigs, leaves, crumpled newspaper, bits of string, and shiny pieces of metal, resulting in a subtle three-dimensional effect. She may also include snippets of writing, such as an excerpt from the very quote that first gave rise to this show, which now appears alongside the nest portrayed in ONE OF A KIND.

Often, McGivern pushes her narratives far beyond literal nests themselves. SPARROWS, for example, was sparked by a photo of ballerinas. The artist streamlined the women and their attire in a composition that makes them seem ethereal, almost airborne as they cavort among what first appears to be tall foliage but, on closer inspection, can be viewed as a human-scaled nest in which they are fully, freely themselves. In other works, a nest may appear as a whimsical headdress, or be transformed into a bushel brimming with tangerines, or be represented simply by an outstretched hand. Or the sheltering structure may disappear completely as its feathered inhabitants freely fly above and around pensive female figures.

McGivern looks forward to demonstrating her creative process for visitors during an appearance in the gallery on the Saturday following the opening. Though she hopes to have “something planned out” for the piece she’ll create then, “I’ll just start, and try not to think about it too much. Because when you think too much, that’s when things get tight. And that’s the last thing you want,” says an artist who always aims to break free from any limitations on her high-flying imagination. —Norman Kolpas

contact information
303.333.4144
www.saksgalleries.com

This story was featured in the May 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art May 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

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