LIFE'S TOO SHORT FOR BEIGE EXHIBIT AT ST. PETER'S
FOR PARIS ARTWALK SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
Step into the spacious parish hall of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Paris, Kentucky, and you enter an
expanse of wall space splashed with swirls of brilliant colors and designs embellished with sparks of
gold, copper, and silver tucked into folds of fabric textures. One cannot help but smile with the wonder
of it all.
This beautiful exhibit of paper arts by Bourbon County artist, Kay Collier McLaughlin, substantiates
the title of her show, Life's Too Short for Beige, and it is a “must-see-to-appreciate” experience. This is
the first presentation in St. Peter’s Fall Arts & Music Series for 2015, and part of the season’s
overarching theme Things Seen and Unseen.
“The title of the season’s art and music offerings … fits my concept of artistic endeavor,” says artist
McLaughlin. “…things seen by the artist that inspire the creation may not be seen by viewers.”
Ms. McLaughlin’s works, encouraged by her artistic interpretation of ideas that perhaps may have
come from something that she has seen, something she’s felt, or something she’s experienced,
explode in bursts of vivid colors and shapes - all gathered into creative pieces that are a joy for the
eyes and food for thought and soul.
“For me, art, like music and writing, are a form of prayer and praise, of responding to the world, and
to God,” says McLaughlin, who declares herself basically self-taught, but whose professional and
personal passions have commingled to use collage as her conveyance of choice. “….this allows me to
incorporate my family's love of fabric and needlework of many kinds with my own experiences in
photography, photo editing, newspaper layout, and merchandising with love of art, and the particular
influences of KLIMT, Kandinsky, Chagall, Matisse and Gloria Vanderbilt.
Her stunning artworks are created with mediums not just of acrylics, water colors, oils, or pens and
ink, but those that incorporate the use of fabrics and handmade papers. Many of these papers she has
made herself and then torn or cut, to lovingly collage layer upon layer, and fashion into exquisite
renditions of timeless art resembling the jewel tones of stained glass windows.
“I am privileged to have collages hanging in the University of Kentucky Hospital, and in the
permanent collections of Christ Church Cathedral, Lexington, KY, Christ Church Episcopal, Harlan, KY,
and The Church of Our Saviour, Richmond, KY,” says artist McLaughlin. Her work, "Homage to Music
and Art: In the Style of Chagall, Matisse and Kandinsky" was awarded first place in Stoner Creek Arts
Creative Harvest, and she is an invited exhibitor in the Lexington Gallery Hops and Paris Art Walks. Her
works are also featured on the walls of THYME restaurant in Paris, KY.
The public is invited to come and be surrounded by the evidence of McLaughlin’s splendid talents at
a reception for the artist during the Fall ArtWalk in Paris on Friday, September 18 from 5 until 8 p.m.
Life’s Too Short for Beige is on display now and will be available for viewing until October 18 in the
3rd. floor Dave Parrish-Norton Clay Parish Hall of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 311 High Street, Paris,
Kentucky 40361. For more information, please call the church office at (859) 987-2760 or via email at
office@stpetersparis.org.
CUTLINE FOR PHOTO:
Artist Kay Collier McLaughlin and Emergence, one of her paper arts creations in the Life's Too Short
for Beige exhibit on display at St. Peter's Episcopal Church for Paris ArtWalk.
Artist's notes about Emergence:
"In a year of unexpected darkness, Emergence is a piece about transitions, from one any of being to
another. Using cut and torn papers against a painted acrylic background moving from darkness
to,light, the abstract figure leaves the boxes of the constriction of darkness behind and steps forward
on a star, moving toward the light."