Lucky Charms

“I have always had an admiration for things that are well made, or not even well made. What you have to make in order to live.” – Margaret Kilgallen, interviewed in 1999 for the Hammer Museum.

In Lucky Charms (2022) Erin McPhee has created a collection of woodcut wall hangings and sculptures, drawing inspiration from her appreciation of folk art and traditional craft disciplines. McPhee’s work is informed by a keen observation of her everyday surroundings. Specifically, she’s drawn inspiration from one of her neighbours, who maintains a rotating display of seasonal woodcuts on his front lawn, and from a lifetime of watching her mom work as a scenic artist. McPhee engages a graphic visual style to depict her own personal language of folk symbols — ranging from portraits of women and houses with puffing chimneys, to weeping flowers, and the flame from a match or candle. The exhibit is the artists’ own lawn display — a small window into the life and personality of the maker, designed to elicit surprise and delight from those who view it. In opting to display her work in a gallery setting the artist is reflecting on the questions “How do we ascribe value, meaning, and legitimacy to public displays of work?” and “How does our interpretation of this work change based on who is making it, and under what context it is viewed?”

Photography: Alison Maxwell