Judy Kensley McKie

November 10 – December 16 at Gallery NAGA

Judy Kensley McKie is recognized as a premiere figure in the American studio furniture movement.  Admiration of her work is universal among furniture makers, collectors, curators, dealers, and audiences in museums and galleries.  She is being given awards honoring her career.  Born in Boston in 1944, McKie presents in November just her third Boston solo show. 

Judy Kensley McKie runs from November 10­­ through December 16 at Gallery NAGA. A reception for McKie and the public will be held at the gallery on Friday, November 10 from 6 to 8 pm.

McKie’s furniture in carved and painted wood and in cast bronze, marble, stone, and resin occupies a singular position in its field.  The work is infused with an awareness of modernist and contemporary art and also of the approaches to design to be found in indigenous cultures throughout the world.  Playfulness and power are summoned by her incorporation of totemic animal forms.  Her designs have the striking simplicity and crispness of the natural world, and her execution has the refinement and utility of exquisite furniture.

The NAGA show presents 19 new objects, ranging in scale from a tall and wide (76x62”) limewood cabinet whose double doors are each carved with four pairs of swans to a pair of bronze bookends in the form of outstretched hands.

Her Dragon Stool/Table, on whose four faces stylized dragons bite their own tails, is carved from Indiana limestone and is inspired by the carved outdoor seating of Chinese culture, specifically by an example in the collection of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.  McKie was one of 22 furniture makers invited to study the museum’s Chinese collection as a springboard for creating work for Inspired by China, which runs at the Peabody Essex Museum from October 28 through March 4.

A fully illustrated catalog of the NAGA exhibition, which includes an extensive interview of McKie by Jonathan Binzen, is available from the gallery.

McKie’s work is represented in the collections of major museums throughout the country.  In 2005 the James Renwick Alliance, supporters of the national collection of decorative arts at the Smithsonian Institution, gave her its Master of the Medium Award.  Also in 2005, her American furnituremaking peers in the Furniture Society gave her its Award of Distinction, a recognition of career achievement.