LongHouse Reserve

Judy Kensley McKie is recognized as a premiere figure in the American studio furniture movement as well as a painter, Judy Kensley McKie, is a self-taught, undaunted furniture maker whose media are in carved and painted wood, cast bronze, marble, stone and resin. Her work is infused with an awareness of contemporary art and design found in indigenous cultures of the world. The pieces, often bestial with four rhythmically shaped, sinued stout legs, are also ritual objects going beyond function, despite the stricture that they remain so. Her biomorphic menagerie makes maker and viewer smile, as intended. Judy’s work, including containers often embellished with high contrast relief images, has been featured in major museum exhibitions including the Museum of Fine Arts and Design in New York, Rhode Island School of Design and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 1995 the Smithsonian Institution presented her with its Master of the Medium Award and her peers in the Furniture Society gave her its Award of Distinction. How fortunate is LHR to exhibit a work by this woman who has been called a “national treasure!”

The Art Furniture of Judy Kensley McKie exhibition is made possible with generous support of Michael Mills and Laureen Bedell, Mark and Elizabeth Levine, and Pritam & Eames, East Hampton NY.
Additional support was provided by Cowles Charitable Trust, Johnson Family Foundation, Edward R. Roberts Family Foundation, and Barbara Slifka.