Day 61/100: Alison Mackay
Encouraging a Painter who Infuses the Still Life Genre with Heft and Humor
Today, as part of my 100 Days of Encouragement Project, my feature artist is Alison Mackay, a painter who works mainly from her studio at St. George's Basin (Jervis Bay) on the NSW South Coast, Australia.
Born in the UK, Alison emigrated to Australia after meeting her partner, Richard Morecroft, a news presenter, journalist, photographer, and mixed media creative. They first encountered each other when he was vacationing on a dive trip to Cape Tribulation. Alison was working the dive boat, and they discovered a shared passion for the arts, the environment, and intellect.
She returned to the UK after that summer, and they literally wrote their love story, deciding to communicate through correspondence only, with letters written in fountain pen. (Envious sigh. Isn’t that just the loveliest thing??)
In 1992, she moved to Sydney to “give their relationship a proper go.” It’s been a beautiful creative partnership ever since. They soon undertook renovating a warehouse together and then collaborated in 1993 to write a book about playing pool. In these early endeavors, they set some ground rules that have served them for over 30 years — (1) when they offer critique, it is always in service of making the art better; and (2) they can’t say that something isn’t working without suggesting an alternative.
If you haven’t already gotten the picture, Alison’s skills and interests are wide and deep. She’s as comfortable wielding a sledgehammer as a paintbrush. And she grabs life with both hands.
She was a competitive equestrian and motorbike racer before breaking her back in 2002 in a horseback riding accident. As she worked through her recovery, she dedicated more time to her artmaking, eventually completing a Painting IV course at Nowra TAFE , with distinction, in 2008.
She has worked as a printmaker (etching, aquatints and linocuts) and arts journalist. She’s painted landscapes, portraits, and abstracts. But Alison's work has focused mainly on still life painting using oils over the last 17 years.
In practice, she now finds the distinctions between genres blurring. Because for Alison, the subject is always paint. She comments: “Whether the painted surface is used to explore tangible objects or landscapes, or whether it evokes emotions, ideas or the ineffable — it’s all paint.”
And she LOVES paint. She loves pushing it around. She loves the “mistakes” and the taking away. She loves the way that one brushstroke, in conversation with the next painted mark, opens up THIS painting, “one iteration from an infinity of possible paintings.”
Whether she is painting a still life or an abstract or a portrait, they are to her “limbs of one body,” both the same and different.
Alison’s work is scrumptious. But it’s too weighty to be called strictly “pretty.” It is marked by dark humor. And cleverness. And a kind of poignancy that reminds us that light and shadow, life and death, happy and sad are always in creative conversation, always held in tension.
Her “Same, Same but different” show at Project 90 Gallery in Sydney in late 2021, featured many traditional subjects of still lifes — flowers, fish, and books. But these items were often paired with deliberately unsettling elements such as sharp cutting instruments (scissors, knives, and secateurs). Knives also made an appearance in the creation of the works — she often used a palette knife as a painting implement, as a way to actively disrupt her sense of control.
These elements of tension and disruption may be the natural growth edge of any creative. But they also follow Alison’s diagnosis and treatment of ovarian cancer in 2019. Surgery and five months of chemotherapy exposed the reality of her human vulnerability and limitations. But this season also revealed the power of love and kindness to promote healing and the depth of her strength and resilience, which carried her through.
Alison’s irreverent humor is right up my alley. When asked about her attraction to flannel shirts as a still life subject, she responded with a wicked grin, an arched brow, and a disbelieving tone: “I can’t believe you have to ask about the attraction of flannies! They are completely glorious objects!”
The flanny, quintessential Aussie work-wear – worn by farmers, tradies and artists alike – is functional, hardy and gorgeously-patterned. And it happened to be Alison’s clothing of choice as she underwent her cancer treatment. Her self-portrait, “Triple Flanny — A Winter Poisoning,” was included in the 2020 Salon des Refuses at the SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney (Alternative Archibald).
The flannies made an appearance again in her 2021 still life series. In these later works, they were no longer layered for needed warmth, but casually tossed off, a gesture that implies a beautiful freedom and sense of life.
Other elements that frequently appear in Alison’s work are clear, reflective and refractive surfaces. She will create almost any excuse to paint these explorations of light — as her painting, “Chops in Glass,” attests to. Surely there is no other explanation for a raw lamb chop in a glass than an artist who is both cheeky and enthralled with the interplay of color, light, shapes, and surface textures.
Art-making is often a lonely proposition. Many artists seek creative community as a path of inspiration and source of encouragement. In her partner, Alison has found a powerful community of two.
I’m charmed by the way Alison and Richard speak of their relationship and the obvious delight they take in each other, personally and professionally. I find the same kindness and sense of partnership with my own husband, Brian Miller. Maybe that’s why I find it so wonderful to know that Alison — this amazing, strong, creative woman — is on the grand adventure of life with Morecroft, who is both a compassionate witness and a willing accomplice!
Alison has shown her work throughout Australia, with 11 solo shows, many group shows and over 40 finalist places in major art prizes. She was also the winner of the 2020 Gallipoli Art Prize.
How You Can Be an Encouragement
Please check out Alison’s offerings on Instagram, follow her, and send her some encouragement today by commenting on one of her posts or sending her a direct message.
Instagram: @alisonmackayartist