Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer “Baggs” McKelvey.
Hi Baggs, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hello, thank you for taking this time to talk to me! I am an artist, professor, and parent. I started my journey at the University of Georgia where I earned a BFA in painting. After graduation I traveled and eventually ended up in Alaska, living in Denali National Park and Fairbanks for several years. I continued painting, wherever I could. One cold and damp summer my studio was an old wall tent. Eventually, I ended up at the MacDowell Colony for a five-week artist residency. My time at MacDowell was inspirational and I went home determined to re-dedicate myself to making and learning about art.
I then went to Southern Illinois University of Carbondale where I got my MFA and shifted from painting to installation art. After graduation, I returned to Fairbanks Alaska, working at Well Street Art Company, teaching art at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and making and exhibiting large-scale installations. Two children and a few years later my family decided to move back to the southeast to be closer to my family who resides in Calhoun Ga and my husband’s family who resides in Antrim, Northern Ireland.
The next year, I had our third daughter and found part time work at several of the area colleges and universities. My first exhibition in Chattanooga was at AVA which led to a commission at the Creative Discovery Museum. Since that time, I have shown regularly in group exhibitions throughout the nation, been commissioned for a site-specific installation at the Hunter Museum of American Art and a second commission at the Creative Discovery Museum, and created installations at Art Fields, Knoxville, and most recently at the Gadsden Museum of Art in Gadsden Al and the Houston Contemporary Craft Center as the winner of the Fibers in 3D juried art exhibition hosted by the Fibers Art Now magazine.
After many years of working as an adjunct instructor, I accepted a position at Chattanooga State Community College as an Assistant Professor of Art.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all! There have been so many obstacles. Working, parenting, and being an artist is a lot to balance. There have been many periods of my life where making art had to take a backseat. There have been lean times when I juggled multiple part-time jobs. But no matter how tough things got I made sure to be a part of the art community.
Teaching college students the fundamentals of art making, working in galleries, and working as the Managing Director of the Mid-South Sculpture Alliance for many years. Those jobs led to interaction with other artists and learning opportunities. Those experiences and the people I met, kept me wanting to make art, even when the most I could manage was a few hours a week.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Primarily, I make large-scale, site-specific installations using various materials including denim jeans, toy cars, plastic bags, fishing lines, and more. I also make found object sculptures and dabble in drawing, sound, and video.
The material for my large-scale installation series called Indigo is crowd-sourced denim jeans, underscoring my practice of utilizing consumable materials. Denim is perhaps the most worn material in the world. Durable, comfortable, sometimes sexy, but always casual. Denim is a symbol for many things including US history, slavery (the production of cotton and indigo dyes), Americana, the working class, innovation, gender and equality (jeans were once taboo for women and girls), and most recently ecological concerns.
The process includes cutting, knotting, and spooling the denim rope onto electrical spools, which is a rethinking of the craft of the handmade. Denim installations are often defined by lines marked on the walls with painter’s tape. These lines are sometimes sourced from aerial photos and maps of the surrounding land/cityscape. However, the process is intuitive, modifying the form as it is created to respond to the architecture. Rivers, waterfalls, the movement of insects, herd animals, and birds drawn into an encompassing shape, or a linear movement also inspire forms. Pant leg cuffs sewn together mimic honeycomb or coral, pockets are used to create wall drawings, and waistbands become florets.
Lastly, but importantly, my large installations take a collaborative effort. I have a wonderful and supportive family and friend group that regularly assist me. My recent exhibitions at the Gadsden Museum of Art in Gadsden Al. and the Houston Contemporary Craft Center in Houston, TX are wonderful examples. Both exhibitions were installed in January, but the Houston exhibition was a last-minute addition. I had just two weeks to produce enough denim for the exhibition. The day before New Year’s Eve, 15 of my close friends and family helped me process 56 or 79 pairs of jeans needed for that exhibition. We cut, tied, laughed, and ate our way through all of the material.
Additionally, my oldest daughter and best friend helped me with sewing. My middle kid and their best friend went with me to Gadsden to help me install. My youngest daughter helped organize materials by color and size, and my husband was instrumental in gathering upcycled jeans and electrical spools to store the denim rope.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
I am a member and Ex-Officio board member of Mid-South Sculpture Alliance, anon-profit membership-based organization that advances the awareness and creation of sculpture through exhibitions, conferences, workshops, scholarships, and confabs. Readers interested in sculpture should check out their website, www.midsouthsculpture.org.
The Fine Arts program at Chattanooga State Community College is offering new and exciting programing. This year we launched a scholarship initiative in the fine arts with dedicated scholarships in the Visual, Musical, and Theatrical Arts every semester for our students. The sculpture studio has been moved to new classrooms that will allow growth in the program. Plus, we are launching an art gallery on campus that will host both student and professional art exhibitions in 2024.
I love teaching at Chatt State because of the students. They keep me motivated to learn as I guide them to achieve their goals. Assisting students on their journey to create artwork utilizing their voices is an absolute joy. The classroom is a safe space where I promote risk-taking, experimentation, playfulness, creativity, thoughtfulness, and a shared sense of community. As a community, we all succeed.
Contact Info:
- Website: baggsmckelvey.com
- Instagram: @baggsmck
Image Credits
Indigo at the Hunter Museum of American Art (2020-2022), Gadsden Museum of Art in Gadsden, AL entitled Beyond Indigo, (Jan – Feb 2024), Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (Jan – May 2024), and Fiber Art Now Magazine
