Iris Snapp
Contributing Writer
isnapp@murraystate.edu
On Monday, Oct. 14, Murray State welcomed Terry McKelvey, a guest lecturer who is a professor of art at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania.
McKelvey came to lecture and visit studios in the Advanced Painting classes.
He instructs painting, drawing, 2D foundations and graduate coursework at Edinboro. McKelvey was recently selected for an exhibition at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, while his latest solo exhibition was in 2018 at Thiel College in Greenville, Pennsylvania.
McKelvey is known for his narrative art style and some of his borderline-taboo paintings. During his lecture, he spoke about his growth as an artist and how undergraduate art education has changed.
Many students were impressed and inspired by his work.
“His artwork opened my eyes to ideas that I would not have thought to explore in art pieces,” Molly Ramsey, a freshman from Hawesville, Kentucky said
After graduating with his master’s, McKelvey explored what art meant to him. He showed his own evolution of art to the students and professors in attendance.
McKelvey explained how his work was inspired by many religious narrative pieces from the past. While his pieces are not religious, many of them have art elements from those religious pieces.
Some of the topics he covered in his paintings were relationships, sex, childhood and loss.
He also explained that he never uses photos for references; he either uses memory or mirrors. Many of McKelvey’s paintings are self-portraits. If they aren’t, he inserts himself into the painting as the main protagonist or as a small detail.
McKelvey said he likes to make fun of himself in the paintings because it feels narcissistic not to. He also explained that he never stops painting; even when he has no specific inspiration, he paints still lifes.
Danielle Muzina, professor of art and design with a focus on painting, said the department brings in several guest lecturers throughout the semester.
The lecturers often coincide with exhibits in the Clara M. Eagle Gallery.
“Guest lecturers in the department of art and design are invited by the department, the gallery, or by faculty, for their individual studio area,” Muzina said.
These guest speakers give students the opportunity to see and learn about other art forms. This might even inspire students and professors to explore other styles and topics.
“We bring in artists and educators who we feel will benefit the overall education of our art students as contemporary makers & thinkers,” Muzina said.