Judy Kensley McKie

Pritam & Eames, East Hampton, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2017

Virginia T. Boyd, Contemporary Studio Case Furniture: The Inside Story, Madison, 2002, p. 14, fig. 2
Judy Kensley McKie: Cast of Characters, exh. cat., Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco, 2018, n.p. (for the model in the collections of the Toledo Art Museum)

Self-taught in the art of furniture making, Judy Kensley McKie imagined her first zoomorphic design in the 1970s and became an acclaimed figure in the American studio craft movement. Her whimsical oeuvre is inspired by the animal kingdom; wood, bronze and stone are shaped into horses, monkeys, cats and more, blurring the distinction between sculpture and functional object. For the present bench, McKie carved the elongated, muscular body of a polar bear from a slab of Vermont Danby marble. The white color of the stone with light gray veining immediately mimics the bear's snowy fur, while its cold, smooth finish evokes an Arctic habitat. McKie transforms the apex predator into a friendly companion with the addition of small circular eyes and a toothy grin. Such bas-relief details are characteristic of McKie's work and reflective of her playful approach: “the more carving there is, the happier I am.” The “Polar Bear” bench, an example of which is in the collections of the Toledo Museum of Art, presents an opportunity to acquire an exquisite masterwork by the endlessly creative female designer.