Lingering Memories - David McKay, RCA

Artist Statement

There are certain things that have had an ongoing visual and emotional impact on me since my youth. Things that I can paint and show you, but find much harder to explain their appeal, or why I keep coming back to paint them time and time again.

The first snow flurries of the late fall season for example. How unexpected and pure they look against a heavy grey sky or dark building. Or the weightiness of well settled rocks piled randomly to separate a farmer’s field from his neighbours. One side of this makeshift wall might stay in shadow permanently, where the rocks remain cool and damp from the earth.

Like a tune in my head that plays over and over and will not go away, I keep coming back to these memories and bits of visual snapshots that linger there. I am fascinated by the patterns of melting snow in a spring field where last year’s grass has turned a yellowish brown. I love the rough bark on an apple tree, or a big old pine tree, with its own patterns of light and shadows, and feel the warmth from the sun on it.

The paintings in this show are of such lingering memories. They are small and intimate. And they are among my favourites.

- David McKay, 2024

David McKay, RCA, SCA: Biography

David McKay has been painting on a full-time basis in Fredericton, New Brunswick for fifty years. He graduated from Fredericton High School and the Saint John Institute of Technology and is self-taught as an artist.

Early in his career, McKay established himself by exhibiting in regional art galleries and as early as 1976 began showing in Montreal and Toronto. Also in 1976, he was included in an internationally touring exhibition titled Atlantic Coast that was organized by the National Gallery of Canada.

Throughout the seventies and eighties the artist worked diligently honing his skills and continued showing throughout Canada (Hollander York Gallery in Toronto, The Shayne Gallery in Montreal, The Gallery in St. John’s Newfoundland, Ferntree Gallery in Calgary, The Ring Gallery in Saint John, Gallery One in Moncton and Gallery 78 in Fredericton).

David has been featured nationally on both radio and television (Anthology on CBC radio, 1987, Spirited Artists on Bravo TV, 2003, Studio Tour on Bell Aliant Community Channel, 2013). He has been the subject of dozens of interviews for the press and for television and radio.

McKay’s artwork was selected for inclusion in The N.B. Juried Exhibition (1985), The N.B. Art Competition (1987), and received an honourable mention in The Marion McCain Juried Exhibition (1989) at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. David McKay’s work was shown at The Toronto International Art Fair in 2007 and The Boston International Fine Art Show in 2008. In 2010 the artist was invited to participate in the exhibition Wolastoq (Beautiful River): The Saint John River Project at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and Portraits-New Brunswick Artists at the New Brunswick Museum in 2009. In 2019-2020, his work was included in the Marion McCain Exhibition of Atlantic Canadian Art at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

David McKay’s artwork is in numerous private collections and is in the following public collections: The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, His Royal Highness Prince Andrew, Mount Allison University, l'Université de Moncton, Irving Oil Limited, the New Brunswick Art Bank, the Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Charlottetown, the University of New Brunswick, the New Brunswick Museum, Esso Resource Centre, McCain Foods (Canada) and the City of Fredericton.

David McKay has completed service of a four-year term on the board of directors of The Canada Council for the Arts. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts (RCA) in 2006. In 2019 David was honoured with the Fredericton Arts Achievement Award for his outstanding achievement in and contribution to, the arts and cultural landscape in the city.

David McKay, CV