Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcy Bishop-Lilley.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Marcy. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was born and raised in North Carolina and moved to DFW in 2013 to pursue a Masters at the University of North Texas in Painting and Drawing. Throughout my graduate education, I taught studio art courses at UNT and later was hired full-time as a Career Coach for the College of Visual Arts and Design and College of Music. I provide students with job search strategies, how to improve their CV/Resume, and information about career pathways within their major.
As an artist, my work changes constantly and intuitively, especially now since the pandemic. My work revolves around fashion, beauty, social rank, and material investigations of paint. I am largely inspired by the concept of social rank and the display of luxury items as a conforming part of society, and equally as a female. Consumer culture has always been a huge part of my upbringing, along with the idea of acquiring possessions, much like collecting art or sneakers.
The paintings I make are composed of dried acrylic that I attach to canvas material or sometimes can be viewed as a three-dimensional sculpture. Discovering that I could manipulate paint in so many ways was a huge revelation for me as an artist. I could make “purses” out of paint, I could sew paint together, I could add Swarovski crystal, and I could add those elements from the fashion world to my pieces. Each of my sculpture paintings takes on a different attitude or persona. I am interested to see how the pandemic will affect consumer culture, which in return will ultimately have an effect on my work.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
My work sets me apart because I am not afraid to use sparkly objects and embellishments to lure viewers into the work, just as store window displays lure you in with something eye-catching. There is a stigma surrounded by “shiny” and therefore must be considered craft art. You will see a good amount of glitter and Swarovski in my pieces and that is something that I accept and nurture into my artistic practice.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Virtual, virtual, and virtual. I think the art world is shaken right now due to the pandemic and how audiences can enjoy artwork from a computer screen. Art commands your physical presence sometimes. Without museums and galleries, I am not sure about the future of viewing art. Artists are innovators, we will seek out the answer to this problem. Being a savvy contemporary artist requires you to have an online presence. Long gone are the days when an artist did not have an Instagram account. Luckily, I like social media, it allows me to share my practice with students, friends, and family that would otherwise never see what I do.
Contact Info:
- Website: marcybishoplilley.com
- Instagram: @chillilley
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcy.bishop.9
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcy-lilley/
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