A new exhibit coming to William Woods University this week embraces the Midwest.
The show, titled "Special Midwest Places," features the art of painter and Columbia resident Jenny McGee. McGee's work, which combines abstract painting, paper collage and digital media to celebrate local special places and faces, will run on the WWU campus for one month beginning today at the Mildred Cox Gallery.
Admission to Cox Gallery is free but 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 else is welcome to experience the exhibit virtually by visiting williamwoods.edu/coxartgallery
Once 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, she felt the need to reach beyond survival mode and use her love or art to express emotions and emulate the beauty surrounding and present in each human.
In recent years, McGee's work has focused on multimedia collages of the people, places and things that evoke nostalgia the nostalgia and depict memorable places here in the Midwest. She starts with an abstract painting, sketches a specific location on paper, and brings together cut paper, paint, and typography to create the final print composition.
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 Ili 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. Other pieces hang at the World Trade Art Gallery in New York City, Brandon Jacobs Gallery in Kansas City, The Christopher Kennedy Compound in Palm Springs, Poppy in downtown Columbia and at her studio at Orr Street Studios in Columbia.
To find out more about McGee's artwork or to inquire about commissioning paintings, please visit her at artistjennymcgee.com.
Cox Gallery is open 12 p.m. 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.