Exhibitions

JOY MCGINNIS: MOMENTS OF ILLUMINATION

Reece Museum (ETSU) / 363 Stout Drive, Johnson City, TN May 10, 2021 - July 16, 2021

Joy McGinnis

Featuring twenty-nine works, Moments of Illumination showcases artwork spanning thirty years of McGinnis’s career. Her works, realized in oil, pastels, watercolor and mixed media, focus on the world around her: nature scenes, architecture, and people from her home and travels. It is her connection to the subject matter that McGinnis finds the most fulfilling when painting. McGinnis states, “The subject matter that I am attracted to are those fleeting moments when light hits form. In that moment, even a common tree can turn into a magical play of light and color, the beauty of which takes my breath away. These ethereal elements of light and color lifts my soul to a higher level for that moment.” McGinnis continues, “It is my hope that my paintings will inspire others to become more aware of the beauty around us, to get out of our head (thoughts of past and future) and to begin to look for those moments of illumination … the color of reflections in water, or the changing light at a different time of day.”

McGinnis received encouragement to pursue the arts as a young child growing up in eastern Arkansas. “It was my second-grade teacher who noticed a precocious talent that I had. She called my mother in and advised her to give me art lessons,” says McGinnis. “I sort of had the reputation of being able to draw and when anything needed to be drawn, you know, everyone came to me. So, when I went to college, you know, sort of like my path was already pointed in one direction.”

McGinnis attended the University of Arkansas and graduated with a degree in art in 1967. Following her formal studies McGinnis has attended classes and workshops with renowned artists such as Elaine de Kooning and Wolf Kan.