About 40 friends, artists and strangers gathered at Cane Roots Gallery last week to talk about inspiration and the creative process with well-known multi-media artist Elisa McKay.
McKay, whose father discovered her talent when she was a child, only began to explore her creativity when she was a teacher and needed something to help her relax. She started by pressing and framing dried flowers.
Then she began the process for which she has become well-known — original greeting cards. She cuts out African print fabric for garments and creates a collage with simple figures. She said she likes to create figures without features to stress the “oneness of us all.”
Recently, she has begun using her own photographs of historical buildings, ruins and her father’s work as background for her figures.
McKay talked about her motivation — her father — and how they switched places in his later years. She became the mentor, encouraging him to take up art classes and following his success as a well-respected and beloved artist in his own right.
“I loved him. He was the king in my life,” McKay said.
She spent time in her father’s woodworking shop, drawing bodies and portraits — she wanted to impress him. He explained to her it would be difficult to follow a dream of becoming an architect, as a woman and as a Black woman. Instead, he encouraged her to become an art teacher.
During that time, while she was very young, McKay sent a portrait she drew to actress Margaret O’Brien. As apparent verification of her talent, the actress mailed her a large autographed photo.
McKay said she realized she had talent when she was still a little girl.
“It was one of my gifts from God,” she said.
McKay talked about her newest focus — writing for the V.I. Source. She likes being able to write about things and people that interest her.
“I love the interviews. I love people and it gives me a chance to enter into their lives,” she said. “Writing feeds my soul in the same way visual art does. I’m blessed to have both.”
A member of the audience asked if she has ever fused her writing with her art. The artist described a poem, Extensions, that she wrote long ago about the relationship between her mother, her daughter and herself. Recently, she created a piece of art that depicts the three women dancing with joy.
Another attendee asked McKay about the themes around which she focuses her art. Family, community, celebration, and local culture are her main areas of focus, she said. Her preferred medium is acrylic, watercolor and gouache, which is opaque as opposed to more transparent watercolor.
Mikaela Smith, from St. Croix, attended the art talk for several reasons. She is a recent college graduate and said she enjoyed learning from McKay’s experiences. She hopes to build her own career when she moves to Florida next month. The young woman creates in charcoal, watercolor, and graphic arts. She was welcomed warmly like a family member as she is a good friend of McKay’s daughter.
Over the years, McKay has shown her work at Government House and the Whim Museum on St. Croix and the Reichhold Center for the Arts on St. Thomas. On Oct. 28, McKay will open a month-long retrospective show at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts.
