Kerry McAleer-Keeler

Artist Kerry McAleer-Keeler – inspired by Joseph Cornell – creates boxed assemblages

We have pleasure in introducing the innovative work of Kerry McAleer-Keeler to a wider audience with seven beautiful examples of her creativity in Catalogue 41. Kerry is currently Director of the Master Program in Art and the Book and Assistant Professor at the Corcoran College of Art, Washington, DC. She holds a MFA degree from George Washington University. “Kerry is an artist who wishes to tell a story. To her, artwork is created to bring a spectator into the world of the artist’s imagination—where the viewer can participate and relate to the narration depicted in her book objects. A reaction is what she is interested in evoking whether it is joy, understanding, humor, or even controversy.

“McAleer-Keeler enjoys making tangible, permanent objects; items that are not so easy to toss away in a consumer driven society. It is important that her book works expresses a commonality of human experi- ences. Her work seeks to address universal issues confronted by all individuals over a lifetime; namely those of love, origin, isolation, spirituality and comfort.

“In her work certain symbolic elements have developed into a visual vocabulary. Birds, hands, materials from nature, antique photographs, playing cards, butterflies and spirals are all elements that perform an important role in her pieces. Freedom, chance, the human spirit, and the life cycle of the natural world are all ideas that these objects reflect.“ – Artist’s Statement.