A new academic year in art exhibits continues next week at William Woods University (WWU) with a show featuring the work of painter Jenny McGee, from nearby Columbia, entitled “Special Midwest Places.” McGee’s work, which uses a combination of abstract painting, paper collage and digital media to celebrate local special places and faces, will run on the WWU campus for one month beginning October 12 at the Mildred Cox Gallery.
Admission to Cox Gallery is free and limited to William Woods students, faculty and staff at this time. Due to COVID-19, the gallery and exhibit will not be open to the general public. Everyone is welcome to experience the exhibit virtually by visiting www.williamwoods.edu/coxartgallery.
Once upon a time a young mother and graphic designer, Mcgee was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer at age 31 and was given a 50/50 chance of surviving the next five years. After two years of intensive treatments, the realization came to her to go beyond the day-to-day survival mode and use her love or art to express emotions and emulate the beauty that surrounds us and is found in each of us. Art became her release and a new horizon where she discovered where color, texture and unfiltered expression could connect pain and healing.
In recent years, McGee’s work has focused on multimedia collages of the people, places and things that depict the nostalgia and memorable places here in the Midwest. She starts with an abstract painting, then sketches a specific location on paper, and then brings together cut paper, paint, and typography to create the final print composition.
As seen on HGTV! Jenny McGee’s paintings have been featured in many solo and group exhibits, including shows at the French and U.S. embassies in El Salvador and at New York City’s World Trade Art Gallery. She holds a BFA in graphic design from Missouri State University and studied under designer Mirko Ilić in New York City. Some of her clients include HGTV’s designer Kelli Ellis, Group President of Estee Lauder and Clinique, Boone County National Bank, Sigfreid Bingham Law Firm, Midwest Transplant Network and Boone Hospital. Her work has been featured on House Hunter’s Renovation. You can see some of her pieces at the World Trade Art Gallery in New York City, BrandonJacobs Gallery in Kansas City, The Christopher Kennedy Compound in Palm Springs, Poppy in downtown Columbia Missouri and at her studio at Orr Street Studios in Columbia.
To find out more about McGee’s ‘s artwork or to inquire about commission paintings, please visit her at www.artistjennymcgee.com Cox Gallery is open 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
