The Bellevue Arts Museum Shows Cathy McClure's Contemporary Metalwork

Written by Frederick Finlayson Wednesday, 13 July 2011 00:36

Seattle, WA.- The Bellevue Arts Museum is proud to present "Cathy McClure: Midway", on view at the museum until January 22nd 2012. Music, flashing lights, and whirring motors... toys buzzing about, or lined up like prizes on the wall waiting to be won.... The air is thick with the excitement of the carnival—an enveloping sensual feast of light, sound, and movement. If the primary goal of an artwork is to attract attention, the work of Seattle artist Cathy McClure is a tour de force. Taking her scissors to anonymous playthings and pop culture icons alike, and stripping them of their identities (and attendant commercial roles), McClure delves into the comedy and tragedy of an increasingly fast-paced automated culture. Here, the long neglected carnivals of yesteryear seamlessly morph into a sleek, efficiently mechanized future world.

Midway is an installation caught between eras, and much of its allure and power are vested in its very state of in-betweenness. Although McClure creates a grand illusion through her zoetropic works, she at the same time reveals the workings within, much like another early proponent of the zoetrope concept, Eadweard Muybridge, whose captivating images of horses brought the mechanics of motion to life in the late 19th century. For every revelation, there is yet another ruse, and just as a magician might misdirect our attention to the front of the stage, McClure keeps us balancing between dualities of childhood and adulthood, human and machine, truth and illusion. – Nora Atkinson, Curator

Cathy McClure is a metalsmith, predominantly working in sterling silver, bronze, and steel, but she has always been attracted to other disciplines, and often includes multimedia components such as music, zoetropes, and video in her work. A constant presence in McClure's artwork has been her preoccupation with mechanical toys and the discrepancy between the perception of an imagined techno-future and that future that we now inhabit, juxtaposed with humor and charm in her elaborate installations. In 1995, McClure received her BFA from Texas Technological University, followed by her MFA from the University of Washington in 1997, where she studied under Mary Lee Hu. In 1997, the same year she received her MFA, she was selected from a pool of 426 applicants as the recipient of the 19th Annual Betty Bowen Memorial Award. She has exhibited at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Milton Hershey School Museum, and Art Miami Basel, and she is currently represented by Edelman Arts and Moss in New York, New York. A Seattle-based artist, this exhibition is McClure's first showing in the Northwest in five years, marking her return to the local stage.


Bellevue Arts Museum has grown alongside the city of Bellevue to become the Pacific Northwest's center for the exploration of art, craft and design. With a long history of community outreach, the Museum today is home to innovative exhibitions, dynamic educational programs and special events that engage their audiences in new conversations about art. In 1947, a group of extraordinary volunteers founded the Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Association, BAM's parent organization. They had two goals in mind: to promote the artists of the region, and to establish a cultural and educational center serving Bellevue and the greater Eastside. In July of 1947, the Pacific Northwest Arts and Crafts Association hosted their first event, an outdoor arts fair held at the Bellevue Square regional shopping center. Over more than 60 years, this annual celebration has evolved into a much-treasured Bellevue tradition.

The Bellevue Arts Museum artsfair today is one of the largest and most prominent festivals in the Pacific Northwest, featuring more than 300 leading artists and attracting an average of 320,000 art enthusiasts every year. The Museum itself was established in 1975. Since that time the Museum has undergone a series of transitions and experienced an extraordinary amount of growth. It was initially housed in a former schoolhouse, followed by a former funeral home and later was established on the third floor of the Bellevue Square shopping center. On December 31st, 2001, the Museum at last opened the doors of its first purpose-built home; a stunning, red building in the heart of downtown Bellevue designed by renowned architect Steven Holl. Bellevue Arts Museum is a place that ignites the mind and fuels creativity. With its unique focus on art, craft and design, BAM connects people of all ages with extraordinary works by Northwest artists while bringing national and international exhibitions to our community. We are dedicated to conversation and helping you connect with art and artists; past or present, experimental or established. Join us in our explorations and enjoy one of the nation's foremost institutions in our field. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.bellevuearts.org

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