Gaelen McCartney

The 2020 Election was one of the most important and unique elections in our lifetime. Not only for the candidates on the ballot but the election occurring during a global pandemic. Voting access and voting safety are crucial to allowing all eligible Americans to participate in voting. These vote masks provide the reminder of the importance of voting while practicing safety during the pandemic.

All masks were sold to raise funds for Democratic Senate races across the country. In total, over 320 masks were made raising more than $3,300.

This installation was a part of a show at the University of Missouri George Caleb Bingham Gallery.

Pieces included were: Black Lives Matter I, Back Lives Matter II.I-II.IV, Innocent Minds, Innocent Voices.

This work was the first installation of the Black Lives Matter I weaving.

This was the installation for my senior thesis for Tyler School of Art at Temple University.

This series takes individuals secrets and forever writes them onto fabric through hand embroidery. All secrets were submitted anonymously.

Series I - Looked at secrets that individuals kept from family members. These secrets were put together into a book format

Series II - Looked at secrets that individuals kept from family members and allowed the viewer to turn them to face forwards or backwards, allowing the secret to be visible or not.

Series III - Looked at secrets submitted by members of the LGBTQ+ community.

This weaving was created by a unique pattern of the handwritten phrase “Black Lives Matter” repeating across the design. This piece was woven on an AVL loom. This piece was created for the No Visible Light Reaches The Eye installation.

These weavings were created by a unique pattern of the handwritten phrase “Black Lives Matter” repeating across the design. These pieces were woven on an AVL loom.

These pieces challenge the idea of both white and black people working together and discussing Black Lives Matter. They weave a more delicate and fragile conversation while knowing that the foundation of their intentions is on that Black Lives Matter.

These wallpapers take a traditional child’s toy and game and re-design them to fit the modern world we live in.

Barbie as a Weapon - discusses a multitude of conversations regarding women in power, female armies, and women being used for suicide attacks.

America’s Monopoly - takes a dive into the socio-economic levels of America. Each bill has been given a level with a corresponding icon representing the type of job an individual in that level would have. The number of bills represented on the wallpaper correlate to the percentage of Americans in those levels.

Miss G.I. Joe - presents what gender expression looks like or does not look like in the military, and the struggles that our soldiers feel when it comes to expressing their gender and sexual orientation.

The work you see here was created by the pre-k to 4th grade students at Gidney Avenue Memorial School in Newburgh, NY. They were prompted to draw “police in their community”. As you can see their responses reflect their view of law enforcement.

These works were gathered to include in the installation :characterized by tragic of disastrous events at University of Missouri.

The work in this gallery are a variety of pattern discoveries in a range of arts practices.

This piece is a unique pattern of the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals balloon. Repeating the single balloon over 1,700 times across the piece - only a fraction of the millions of kids treated every year at CMN Hospitals across North America.

This piece encompasses hand pulled glass rods and ikat dyed yarn woven together. Instead of weaving with yarn as the weft, the glass rods were used.

If one piece of glass were to be removed, the entire piece could fall apart.

Family history speaks to more than just stories and past times, but the ways in which our lives today are different than the past by the advancement of technology, progression of social issues, and the priorities of ones life.

Dear Mr. Kilbridge - a series of envelopes that my great, great grandfather sent his mother while he was away at war. The stamps and post-mark match that of the letter.