Furniture Fit for Man or Beast: Judy Kensley McKie
by Charles Giuliano
Many artisans at Gallery Naga were included in a landmark exhibition, New American Furniture, organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1989. At the time, NAGA’s director, Arthur Dion, was competing for these top artists with a suburban Boston dealer, Meredith Moses of Clark Gallery in Lincoln. Dion recalled, in a recent conversation, that they were trying to outwit each other. He wanted to show the best artists and the best works in a group show at his space during the seminal MFA show. It was turning into a cat fight until the dealers had lunch and agreed to have the show at NAGA and to share all expenses as well as profits, which they have been doing, in the presentation of studio furniture, ever since. Dion describes this amicable business arrangement as a win win.
The decorative arts not being my strongest suit, I asked him to quantify and qualify the strength of the Boston studio furniture movement. "There are at least thirty-five individuals of what is known as the second generation, of which McKie is a member, who have been more or less canonized," He said. "Since the important MFA show, in 1989, which recognized, on a national level, many of these important individuals in a major traveling show, there has emerged what is referred to as a third and even fourth generation. So, in the Boston area there are at least 100 individuals who would be a part of the movement. The MFA is planning a sequel to their original exhibition. The second most important centers for this activity would be San Francisco and San Diego."
As to how and why Boston became an important focus for this activity would have largely to do with the presence of so many art and design schools in the area. For a time, there was the important Program in Artisanry at the School of Fine Arts of Boston University. That ended and transferred to the Swain School of Art, in New Bedford, which folded and merged with the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. So a number of the top practitioners came to the area as teachers and in turn spawned subsequent generations of artisans.
While a nationally recognized leader of this movement, McKie is unique on many levels. She and her husband, the humorous artist, Todd McKie, were both born in Boston in 1944. Most significantly, she was not trained in craft or furniture making. She graduated from RISD as a painter in 1966. Another distinction is that she doesn’t teach. Also, she does not, or at least rarely, does work on commission. And she declines to sign exclusive contracts with galleries. Dion described how she was wooed by the nation’s top furniture gallery, the owner of which is now deceased, but she refused to sign on despite the prestige. How many artists can say that. She has had numerous shows, however, with Pritam & Eames, a top-level, studio furniture gallery in East Hampton, Long Island.
When Todd and Judy set up house in Cambridge after graduating from RISD they didn’t have a stick of furniture in the apartment. By trial and error she started to make things. Then for an extended time she crafted functional furniture and bookcases just to generate income while painting. Inspired by some example of early American furniture she began to decorate and paint the objects. Charging no more than the plain stuff for her efforts just glad to have the creative opportunity. That took off, got better, and more complicated. Today, Leaf Chest, 53 x 40 x 16" in the NAGA show has sold for $60,000. The collector plans to keep his socks and sweaters in it. You can sit on, eat off, sleep under, and store stuff in the whimsical creations by McKie but it’s gonnah cost yah. Lots.
In every show, however, Dion pointed out that she includes at least some works that are affordable by other artists. Is this show there are salad-tossing forks with little hands made out of cast resin in an unlimited edition for just $250. Or a similar ladle and a little, bronze bowl shaped like cupped hands.
On the high end, I lust after the bronze Bear Bench, an edition of ten, for $35,000, or a similar Cat Bench. She also likes to do tables with animal motifs. This time, a pair of lynxes supports an expanse of thick glass on their backs and chew one side of it in their grasping jaws. Animals are the most signature element of the work but a vast range of ethnic designs also inspires her. You can see African in the starkly graphic Trapezia Chest, and also wonder about the source for the dramatic and playful design of the Pointing Cabinet. Or you might fancy whimsical, dancing dogs and cats for a headboard. Oddly enough, we learn in the Danto essay that the artist does not particularly like animals. No pets it seems. Even though they are a dominating theme in the work. It is just one of many contradictions and conundrums.
Also, because of the great demand for the work, Dion states that there is never any inventory and that it took two years to gather the work for this show. Assistants do much of the joinery. That leaves her time for the carving, painting and decoration. One senses, and this is confirmed by my own conversations with the artist, a very unique and strongly independent artist. But also, very warm, charming and humanistic. Time spent with her sparkles. It’s like hanging out with a rock star.
Most of all I like the humor. It’s furniture for people like me who don’t know or care a lot about furniture. Her furniture makes me laugh. Not surprisingly, Robin Williams is a fan as was the late Jim Henson. That makes sense.
I first met the McKies in the 1960s when Todd, comic Marty Mull, a classmate at RISD, and Scott Brink, collaborated on a little underground show and dubbed themselves the Smart Duckys. In addition to their humorous works I also recalled that they showed children’s toys on pedestals. Later, when the ICA camped out at the Parkman House, on Beacon Hill, Sunny Savage showed them. For that opening Marty and Todd (Scott dropped out) made zillions of edible snacks. There were Morris Louis and Jackson Pollock mini sandwiches, Brancusi pickle sculptures, or Albers cheese squares. They wore chef costumes and, at the height of the evening, Marty kicked a football through a big scrim painted like goal posts. But their greatest event was when they staged a guerrilla exhibition in the men’s rook of the Museum of Fine Arts.
The show was called, "Flush with the Walls," and invitations were printed on squares of toilet paper. The guests smuggled wine and cheese into the palatial, marble tiled room. The joint rocked until MFA official, Diggery Venn, an old Brahmin, came in to take a piss. He had a hissy fit, tore the works off the wall, and flushed them down the toilets. Everyone just laughed and cheered. That was the 60s. It was never the same after that. Boy I miss those days. But the McKies still make me laugh.
While Gallery Naga primarily specializes in Boston’s painters and photographers, in the past decade, it has had some 18 or so one person shows of studio furniture as well as numerous group shows. It represents Andy Buck, John Eric Byers, John Dunnigan, Jenna Goldberg, Kim Kelzer, Jere Osgood, Mitch Ryerson, Stephen Whittlesey, and Rick Wrigley.
Gallery NAGA, Boston, in Collaboration with Clark Gallery, Lincoln November 8 through December 21 Catalog with 18 full page, color illustrations and essay by Arthur C. Danto Dialogue between the artist and Gallerist, Arthur Dion, Nov. 23, 3 PM at NAGA
Charles Giuliano is a Boston based artist, curator and critic. He is an editor of Art New England, contributor to Nyartsmagazine, and the director of exhibitions for The New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University. He is represented by Flatfiles Gallery in Chicago.
