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| California artist McKenzie Birnie |
McKenzie Birnie was born in Los Angeles in 1938. Her grandfather, Johan Birnie, was from the old school of Dutch painters. He immigrated to the United States and set up a studio in his house and worked there daily.
See a portrait McKenzie painted of her Indonesian grandfather and Dutch grandmother
As a small child, McKenzie would spend hour after hour on a stool in the corner of her grandfather's studio watching him go through the various stages of drawing and planning a composition, preparing a color palette, skillfully employing his craftsmanship with requisite patience and endurance, and fastidiously caring for his brushes and equipment - in short, preparing a reverent welcome for the magic of his art. Before his granddaughter's mesmerized eyes, blank canvases and inert tubes of paint were transformed into vibrant stories of form and color.
This was a powerful process for an impressionable child to witness, and the young McKenzie went on to apply her grandfather's lessons to her own media and activities in life.
Another childhood experience that would have a profound impact on McKenzie's artistic formation was a move to a remote ranch in northern Nevada. Under the wide Nevada sky, McKenzie discovered the elements of time and space while making a strong connection with the natural world. These elements shaped her life through school and the raising of her three children, and continue to be reflected in her art today.
McKenzie Birnie received a Master's degree in Fine Arts before launching into a full-time career in art. Using weaving and mixed media, she created wearable art for Obiko and other galleries in San Francisco and Northern California. A highlight of her art career was when she exhibited her "Story Shirts" in the Salon des Ateliers d'Art in Paris, which featured artists from around the world.
She now lives in Southern California and recently has turned to telling her stories on large gourds using paint and mixed media.
Art by McKenzie Birnie
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