Brighton McCormick


Brighton McCormick

Artist Statement

I am a maker. A maker of objects, images, spaces, sounds, reflections, sentences and mistakes. My heavily material based practice incorporates handcrafted objects, 2D images, as well as sound and video typically resulting in installed environments. I often combine various mediums, but the resulting works live in the domain of sculpture. Utilizing experimental casting techniques for metal and clay, I fossilize memories and reflections of everyday moments and formed ideologies. Philosophical inquiry guides my studio decisions while also developing my character. Drawing heavily on my personal experiences of American culture, I create atmospheres for the viewer to reflect and question ideas about our society and themselves.

Wisdom of a process gained over time, development of a muscle memory, and an intimacy with a tool or material changes the source and scope of knowledge. Through this way of working and learning both the head and hand are engaged in the development of tacit knowledge. Within my practice I’m processing how the marks and memories of our personal pasts are insidious to who we become. I’m seeking to understand how individual identity development has led to increasing polarization. By creating or recontextualizing furniture and other domestic objects my work reconsiders our remembered histories. Remnants of process and everyday items are repurposed and function as an archive of what they once were and what they once meant. In the making of craft objects historically viewed as women’s work through processes typically assigned to male labor, I question both the place of skilled craft and gendered work in our modern society.

Artist website

 

Education

  • Master of Fine Arts, University of Washington, Seattle
  • Bachelor of Science, Business, Metropolitan State University
  • Bachelor of Fine Arts, Studio Art, University of Minnesota

 

Exhibitions

Solo Shows

  • 2015, Archives of Metal & Gravity, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2014, If I Were an Artist, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

 

Selected Group Shows/ Exhibitions

  • 2019, 50×50, Quarter Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2019, Cobblestones & Lumber, SFAI, San Francisco, CA
  • 2018, 10 Études for Summer, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA
  • 2018, Insular, North Gallery at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA
  • 2017, Hope & Anguish, Vine Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2017, DegeneraTe, Red Garage Studio, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2017, Hydro-Illuminata, Homewood Studios, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2017, Reflected Light, Caponi Art Park, Eagan, MN
  • 2017, Made Here: Future, Hennepin Theatre Trust, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2017, NCCCIAP Exhibition, Sloss Furnaces, Birmingham, AL
  • 2017, Iron Artist Resident Show, Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN
  • 2016, Art in the Park, ArtWorks Eagan at Caponi Art Park, Eagan, MN
  • 2016, Manuel Transmission, Red Garage Studio, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2016, In Their Element, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN
  • 2015, SPOON, Quarter Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2015, 2015 UMN Scholarship Show, Quarter Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2015, Irish Network MN Art Affair, Summit Manor, St. Paul, MN
  • 2015, ReCon-DeCon, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

 

Awards

  • 2019, Ingham Fund for Excellence, Seattle, WA
  • 2018, Boyer and Betty Gonzales Graduate Scholarship in Art, Seattle, WA
  • 2017, Top Scholarship, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
  • 2017, Next Step Grant, Metropolitan Reginal Arts Council, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2015, Wayne Potratz Scholarship, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
  • 2013, Academic Excellence Scholarship, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

 

Committee Members

  • Amie McNeel, Committee Chair (3D4M)
  • Doug Jeck (3D4M)
  • Jamie Walker (3D4M)
  • Michael Holland
  • Brighton McCormick, Thesis Exhibition
  • Fully Furnished by Brighton McCormick
  • Detail of Fully Furnished by Brighton McCormick
  • Detail of Fully Furnished by Brighton McCormick
  • Untitled (Memory & Assemblage) by Brighton McCormick
  • Rug No. 2 by Brighton McCormick
  • Chair No. 2 by Brighton McCormick
  • Residual (Detail of Quilt) by Brighton McCormick