Artist Statement
My body of work largely reflects a preference for process and materiality. Even if I’m not patient, the process forces me to be, and in turn I spend more time considering the making and fine tuning for the next step and the next piece.
While isolated and bedridden for 6 months this past year, my work shifted to past spaces I’d been in and took photos of in a way of escapism from what I was experiencing in my day to day life and struggling to live with. Despite now being more mobile than I was, it has still been a constant reality and physical pain I have to deal with - one that has impacted how I work and by extension what I can work on.
My most recent body of work reflects a blending of daydreams, memories, and experiences. These have been the core generative concepts behind the works, and while some end up as whimsical musings, others are more literal and technique driven with a specific moment referenced.
Material wise, there is an emphasis on pigments collected, synthesized, and traded for. Ochres traded with a print friend in Australia, Prussian Blue synthesized in my bathtub during quarantine, and dirt from the site of my car accident.
Artist Bio
Vera Duran McBride works predominantly in printmaking, paper arts, book arts, and watercolor painting. The work is environmental based in terms of spaces, locations, and memory. The process of the making is a large factor into the work, as well as the sourcing of materials. Recently she has been working on projects synthesizing pigments and introducing them into her practice. She attended UC Berkeley for Art Practice and lives and works in Sacramento, CA.
CV
Vera Duran McBride
veraduranmcbride@gmail.com
Born: Woodland, CA, 1992.
Education
Spring 2022, BA Art Practice, UC Berkeley
Group Exhibitions
2022 - Myrtle Press Prints, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
2021 - Coalescence, Worth Ryder, Berkeley, CA
2021 - Blanket Statements, Worth Ryder Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2021 - Imprinted, Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA
2019 - SCC Student Show, Kondos Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2019 - Hot Off The Press, Sparrow Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Print Exchanges Participated In
2022 - Origins, Myrtle Press, Sacramento, CA
2022 - I Forgot About the Print Exchange..., Mountain View, CA
2021 - eMERGE, California Society of Printmakers, Oakland, CA
2020 - Unseen, Myrtle Press, Sacramento, CA
2020 - Monster, Mountain View, CA
Related Creative Experience
Print technician for Myrtle Press 2017-present
Print technician for Sacramento City College 2017-2020
Works published
2020 - “Night”, UC Berkeley Art Practice Newsletter, Berkeley, CA
Awards
2021 - Honors Studio Cohort, UC Berkeley Art Practice, Berkeley, CA
2022 - Art Practice & University Library Printmaking Award, UC Berkeley Library, Berkeley, CA
Artist Bio
Vera McBride works predominantly in printmaking, paper arts, book arts, and watercolor painting. The work is environmental based in terms of spaces, locations, and memory. The process of the making is a large factor into the work, as well as the sourcing of materials. Recently she has been working on projects synthesizing pigments and introducing them into her practice. She attended UC Berkeley for Art Practice and lives and works in Sacramento, CA.