Erin McGee Ferrell
Artist Statement:
Erin McGee Ferrell
I am a pilgrim with big goals, who always walks in the immediate three steps of the day. My journey as a mother, painter, scientist, and cancer survivor evidence living human spirit, courage, fortitude, faith, and creativity. I know firsthand the grit it takes to paint through five pregnancies with three surviving children. I lived through three cancer diagnoses, mastectomy, chemotherapy, baldness, and radiation treatments.
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 to build figurative narration with ferocious determination. Honesty of discipline and joy of play are my truths. My paintings will outlive me to witness this powerful force. As a scientist, I mix materials to create innovative surfaces which mimic pathology and cancer cells.
Biography
Erin McGee Ferrell, Contemporary Professional Oil Painter and Arts in Health Advocate teaches 2D Design at The University of New England. (Assis Adjunct Teaching Professor). McGee Ferrell is Published Researcher and Patient Advocate for the Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, and a National Cancer Institute Research Advocate, Arizona State University, 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.
She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and University of the Arts Philadelphia. McGee Ferrell 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.
ErinMcGeeFerrell@gmail.com
856.630.9832
Latest NEWS:
February 2021.
EMF’s Breast Cancer Painting selected for cover by Dr. Signe Korsgaard Skriver, Dept of Oncology, University of Copenhagen
Erin McGee Ferrell teaches art at The University of New England, Maine. Erin has family in Oahu, Hawaii and paints landscapes on the island as often as she can. She is a member of the National Organization for Arts in Health and serves as a patient advocate for the Arizona Cancer Evolution Team (University of Arizona) and the National Cancer Institute’s Physical Sciences in Oncology Initiative. Creator of The Pirate Crew Paper Dolls: Breast Cancer Educational Tool, Erin has presented at Medical Conferences in Florida, Boston, and Maine. She received the Maine Arts Commission Grant 2017, which allowed for research on “Art and Chemotherapy,” which later was published by her team in the Journal of Oncology Nursing. Nationally recognized, McGee Ferrell’s paintings are collected by Private and Commercial institutions, including TD Ameritrade, AtlantiCare New Jersey, Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, INC. Philadelphia, The Episcopal Diocese of Boston, the CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, professional hockey player Kimmo Timonen, and America’s Cup Winner- Robert James Gale. Her work has been included at the Arnot Museum, NY and The Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art, WI. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and University of the Arts Philadelphia. McGee Ferrell 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.
CONTACT:
856.630.9832