Beverly Magennis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beverley Magennis (born 1942) is a ceramic sculptor who works within the nexus of tile and architectural form.[1]
Born in Toronto, Beverley Magennis is a self-described feminist who covers architectural forms in ceramic tiles.[2]
Magennis received her AOCA from the Ontario College of Art in Toronto in 1964 and received her MA in Ceramics from the Claremont Graduate School and University Center in California in 1968.[3]
Magennis came to New Mexico in the 1970s as a part of Roswell's Artist-in-Residence program,[4] and taught art in Chama, New Mexico.[2]
Career
She has worked in Los Angeles,[1] where she was inspired by outsider artists, and throughout New Mexico, in Roswell, Albuquerque, and southwestern New Mexico.[2] Magennis has tiled the interiors and exteriors of homes, including her own,[1][2][5] with tiles,[5] pennies,[1] and mosaics,[2] creating a "transformation of nonart materials into aestheticized objects."[1] She also sculpts representational forms or repurposes commercial tiles which she fractures the tiles into abstract designs.[5] She is well-known for her ceramic-tiled chairs, which usually include cats or birds,[5] held in the collections of the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, and the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History. She is noted for her quirky style fusing California modernism, breaking down barriers of high and low art through her tiled and mosaic artwork.[1]
Literary career
After moving back to Albuquerque from Catron County, New Mexico, Beverley began writing a series of books, under the name Bev Magennis, about life in Catron County. The first book, Alibi Creek, was published by Torrey House Press in March 2016.[2] Subsequent books comprise the series "Alibi Creek Tales" which includes "Desplazado," "Equity," "Nothing Fancy," and "Walker Walker."