Bittersweet Daze - Opening Event Friday 8th November 6.00pm - 7.15pm
Kitty L M McKay -originally from Leicestershire, is a North-East based artist
currently working in the intersection between painting and sculpture.
Mckay takes monochromatic memories of leisure and transforms them into bold
nostalgic works.
Using plasticine, McKay conveys the playfulness of forgotten leisure and attempts to physically reconstruct memories as the mind would.She uses archival material, collective memories, and personal archives as reference.
Her works are bright, textured and colourful, bringing a feeling of melancholic joy for
times gone. She is particularly drawn to lost ‘Third Spaces’ places where communities
came together away from domestic and working settings. These spaces are
becoming less and less accessible to the British public
In this series Mckay explores the duality of loss and hope found in lost lidos dotted
around the U.K. From Tynemouth’s old coastal pool, to a Welsh Village’s lido these sites
were once widespread across the U.K. then slowly fell out of favour. Despite their
atmosphere of decay, there is a poetic nature to their lost grandeur and the ghosts of
recreation that haunt them.