Constance McBride: mixed-media artist creates sculptures that detail the aging process

Constance McBride 

Local mixed-media artist creates sculptures that detail the aging process.

By Nicole Royse

Constance McBride is a local artist creating figurative clay and mixed-media sculptures that examine the aging process and its effects on the human body. Skillfully rendering the human form in an intriguing variety of work with a tremendous amount of detail, her creations are a brilliant examination of flesh and its imperfections.

McBride has found a true connection with sculpture, celebrating the human body through clay, highlighting its imperfections and creating work that exudes a feeling of tranquility blended with a sense of unsettlement. When asked about her work McBride says, “The effects time has on our bodies and my evolving emotions concerning them are what drive the direction of my work.” According to McBride, these emotions offer a deeper connection to her audience. Her artwork is a brilliant examination of the human body and showcases the beauty of our imperfections while reminding us that we are all connected. The inspiration fueling her work is “the attempt to reflect a sensation of serene contemplation combined with subtle details of odd yet strangely natural elements,” says McBride.

Traditionally trained in the arts, McBride received her bachelor of arts from Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania. She is a current member of Eye Lounge Artist Collective and Gallery, in addition to exhibiting her work extensively around the Valley at such places as the Mesa Arts Center, the Ice House, Five15 Arts Gallery, Frontal Lobe Gallery, and the monOrchid––just to name a few. Her work has also been represented at the Las Cruces Museum of Art and Udinotti Museum of Figurative Art and can be found in private collections around the country. She is currently busy in her studio working on her latest body of work to debut in her upcoming joint exhibition with Dean Reynolds titled, Psycho Pomp at {9} The Gallery. For more information about Constance McBride and her artwork, visit constancemcbride.com.

Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum

The Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum is currently offering several exhibitions including Ecosystem, featuring the striking work of Bradley Hart. A New York-based Canadian artist, he creates unique artwork by injecting bubble wrap with acrylic paint, which results in pixelated photorealistic images. Also on view is Distant Visions: Apparatus and Ephemera from the Televisor Era 1884-1928, featuring the work of local artist Steve Gompf, who creates mixed media sculptures with found object that displays “digitally manipulated and reanimated photographic motion studies by Eadweard Muybridge.” Also on display is Jeff Reich: Recurrent Edges, highlighting his geometric ceramic sculptures with nature-inspired surfaces, as well as his latest series of surrealist landscapes created with acrylic paint.

Lastly don’t miss the much anticipated 37^th Annual Contemporary Crafts exhibition spotlighting contemporary crafts guest juried by Elisabeth Argo. It showcases a diverse selection of 53 artworks including ceramics, fibers, basketry, metals, wood, glass, jewelry, papermaking, and book arts created by 34 artists from around the country. The Mesa Arts Center is located at One E. Main Street in downtown Mesa. Be sure to visit their website for a complete list of exhibitions and upcoming events, mesaartscenter.com.