IN MEMORIAM: GAIL BROGAN MCKENNA Gail Brogan McKenna's art holds for us the same kind of fascination as the work of Russelll Aharonian, also presented on this site, insofar as they both are similarly focused-- on discovering, defining, stretching, testing, and expressing psycho-sexual IDENTITY. However the end result could hardly be more different. McKenna's "print-paintings" are intricate, subtle, introspective multimedia works, most frequently single-edition lithographs which are then treated with oil or gouache -- and cool and subdued in coloration. The symbolism and frame of reference are constant and recurring; we meet over and over again the egg, the snake, the naked figure, the angel, the heroine, the earth-mother-- but expressed in a manner altogether personal, explorative, contemporary, mysterious. McKenna lived and exhibited her work on Cape Cod, Massachusetts where she taught techniques and concepts in the visual arts. She passed away in early 2004. We are proud to have known her mind and to have been enriched by her art.
From Across the Lake	Recipe	Flying Fish
Portal	High Red Center	Lunacy

THE WORK OF GAIL BROGAN MCKENNA: THE ARTIST IN THE KITCHEN

 McKenna used dream imagery to explore concepts of genetic memory and collective consciousness in order
  to  recognize those elements of identity which are part of us before we are born. At the same time she sought to
  express the rare, true threads of self-identity which the artist spins with intent, desire, and imagination.

  She used symbols to which most women would relate  instinctively,  yet she used them in an intensely
  personal way: the flying bird expresses freedom and flight, the fish represents water as the origin of life, the
  egg as the beginning of life and the cyclical nature of all life. The skin of the snake is shed to allow growth, and
  here it  is a symbol of the constantly- recurring rejuvenation of the artist-woman.

  Cooking-and-cleaning tools speak to the role of woman as she nourishes, consoles,     
  heals, nests, and woos-- but there is a burden with this love which all women know, and which is part of the
  bridge to their own mothers, to family, and the past. The Recipe Series of paintings (Omelette, Flying Fish,  
  Braised Heart) are most specifically references to this, and consequently are some of the more provocative  
  pieces, as the symbolism  employed takes us to various levels and beyond the conscious.

 In the words of Gail Brogan McKenna: 

“Identity is the voice of the soul, with a curious duality. Each of us has our own perception of self, partly inher-
  ent and partly  forged. Then there is  the external aspect--how others see us. I was born an American female;
  I have striven to become a person. Though my conscious use of symbolism and process may vary, the most  
  meaningful  will be dictated by my self-knowledge as woman, wife, and mother during the artistic process.”