Printmaker Wes McClain has just been named the 2015 recipient of the Bainbridge Arts & Crafts/Bainbridge Island Arts & Humanities Council Amy Award for Emerging Artists.
The Amy Award has been given annually since 2001 to a young (they have to be under 35), emerging artist from Bainbridge Island whose work demonstrates “a sense of quality, creativity, exploration, and dedication.” The award is managed by the Arts & Humanities Council and funded by an endowment established by David and Caren Anderson in memory of their late daughter, Amy, a visual and performance artist. BAC and Bainbridge Performing Arts select recipients in alternating years.
By the Lake, 2012, by Wes McClain
BAC Executive Director Susan Jackson explained their selection of McClain: “He is an excellent printmaker who began showing his work at BAC when he was just in the ninth grade, and he became one of our ‘real’ artists when he was a senior.” She said, “On top of all his great work, he is a super guy. We are all enormously proud of Wes and take great delight in awarding him this honor. We know he will take this success with him as he navigates his future.”
Critique 2 Detail by Wes McClain
McClain also creates digital art, animated short films, and etchings. His work is haunting, often capturing people from behind at odd, uncertain moments against unsettling backdrops.
McClain described an animation class he took in elementary school with the late Wendy Jackson Hall: “I enjoyed it so much that I continued to take her classes until I was noticeably older than the rest of the kids,” he says. He continued to draw, paint, and animate through middle and high school.
His grandfather gave him painting lessons. McClain said, “I think that’s when I started to take art seriously.” Bainbridge Island printmaker Wendy Orville became a mentor, introducing him to the Gage Academy in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, where he honed his drawing skills and connected with other artists.
In 2010, Wes was admitted to the Rhode Island School of Design, where he studied printmaking and animation while continuing to exhibit his work at BAC and in other Pacific Northwest venues. In 2013, he was honored with a solo exhibition at BAC and also created an animated short film that was featured in the 2013 Celluloid Bainbridge Film Festival.
McClain graduated from RISD in 2014 and returned to Bainbridge to continue working on his art, with a particular focus on integrating fine art and digital tools. He said, “My four years in Providence gave me a new perspective on my home in the Pacific Northwest. With that, I’ve tried to capture my own memories and evoke this abstract sense of place.”
McClain will be celebrated at a private reception on May 14.
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Photo courtesy of Wes McClain.