Erin McGee Ferrell, Contemporary Professional Oil Painter and Arts in Health Advocate, teaches 2D Design at The University of New England. McGee Ferrell is a Published Researcher and Patient Advocate for the Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, and a National Cancer Institute Research Advocate, University of Arizona, CSBC.
Ferrell was raised with a Nigerian upbringing, with grandparents and father having spent thirty-five years in Ekiti State. She traveled and spent a semester painting in West Africa, experiencing its cultural benefits and influences. Born in Kentucky, Ferrell now lives in Maine and is a military spouse and a preacher’s wife. She is the mother of a military son, one daughter studying for a PhD in Biology, and the other daughter is a dancer.
Erin is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and University of the Arts Philadelphia. She has also studied at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, University of Louisville in Italy, School for International Training in Nigeria, and Maine College of Art.
Artist’s Statement:
I work on the biggest canvases I can fit in my studio, applying painting strategies of Euan Uglow, and Robert Hamilton in my portraits, landscapes, and still life. My art reflects my surroundings and home: rich, lively color, texture, pattern, and skewed perspective. I collect fabrics from Europe and Asia, as well as Kentucky Quilts to use as background inspiration. Always I build, scrape, and pull to work an inconsistent surface. With undulating texture, I expose vulnerable ground with confident thick strokes, using oil paint and transparent watercolor to build figurative narration with ferocious determination. Honesty of discipline and joy of play are my truths. I mix materials to create innovative surfaces which my paintings reflect as scientific explorations. These rectangular diaries will outlive me to witness this insistent work.
Erin McGee Ferrell
