Allison McGree feels in color, both subtle and vibrant tones.
Over time, colors change meaning within McGree’s heart, as she experiences more within this life, and those colors find a new home from heart to canvas as she paints. The highs and lows, light and dark, inward and outward journey of life all arrive on her canvas through bold colors, a strong hand, and an open heart. Landscapes, animals, and people meet within her paintings in vivid colors, as well as the expressionist thoughts and feelings that surround them. Energy is held and balanced through strong and aggressive brushstrokes and the subtle and soft intuitive movements of smaller brushes.
A sixth generation Montanan, McGree comes from a long line of Big Sky heritage. Her Grandmother, an artist and McGree’s greatest source of inspiration, held her hand along the journey to becoming an artist. After she passed, McGree better understood the real lesson her grandmother was walking her towards, recognizing the artist she has always been.
McGree’s process is raw and influenced by the emotions she feels connecting with the land, with people, and within herself. She lets these conduits of feelings come through her as she first writes words across the canvas and then lets the feelings of color follow through in layer after layer of paint. Sometimes, a painting is done in a few weeks, other times months and years span between the layers. Occasionally, a new experience of life is needed to be felt to finish a painting, the subtleties of intuition held within her art.
Allison holds a BA in Fine Arts from Gonzaga University, a BA in K-12 Art Education from Montana State University, and a MA in Holistic Art Programming, Practice, and Outreach with an emphasis on sustainability, community, and public art from Prescott College.
While McGree is grateful for her experiences through education, it is an appreciation of the artist within each of us, a heritage born in creativity, and the art of feeling in color that define her own art and her own heart.
Allison’s paintings can be found in galleries across the nation. She is available for private lessons, parties, and commissions, as well as artist residencies.
“In my work I try to emphasize the enormous beauty in simplistic images. I hope to help others to take the time to stop and to begin to notice simple moments of splendor. I use light, reflections, and bright colors to transform objects from seemingly mundane to painterly and stimulating. In capturing and painting awe inspiring “moments,” I hope to share a connection with the viewer of my artwork.”
Allison McGree
Bozeman, MT
Painter + Sculpted-relief Artist
Teaching Artist
Coach
Mentor
Welcome!
In order for you to see if we're a good fit to work together, I want to share an article that was recently (2022) written about me, my story, and my philosophy. Thanks for reading!
This week’s My Artrepreneur Program Forum Spotlight and MAP artist Allison McGree welcome you to the New Year of 2022 and wish all the best to all for the coming year.
McGree says, “I believe that my strength in art is in simply failing forward over and over again…and trying to listen to the universe and myself as I do.” She adds, “I make sense of the world through my art. I am not a pre-planned perfectionist. I don’t create innumerable sketches before I paint. I’m a battery that needs a charge from inside and outside to light up.”
A professor suggested that McGree walk through the doors that had the question marks over them. She has found that she doesn’t fear right or wrong, loving instead to learn new things. She believes that we may not choose to learn the most difficult lessons and tells of losing a dear friend who died young in a climbing accident. Unable to understand “why,” she painted daily, grieving through the paint. Her friend loved Norse mythology, so she painted Norse imagery and listened to music. She says, “I walked myself through painful life-changing questions through paint. I think I’ve always used art this way -- a way to understand, heal, and grow.”
For McGree, her art includes the emotion surrounding what she paints. She feels a deep desire to explore, learn, and constantly grow, exploring the relationship between the natural and inner worlds. In that exploration, she believes each of us has an inner nagging voice inside. She has found that “sometimes the ‘shoulds’ of the world try to drown it out, but if we listen, it will still speak up.” Her voice continues to guide her to own, with confidence, her will to create.
This artist’s process is raw. She allows her emotions to come through as she first writes words across the canvas and then lets the vivid feelings follow through in layer after layer of paint and plaster. Impressions of the natural and inner worlds flow onto the canvas in multiple layers of brushstrokes. Some paintings are done in a few weeks, others take months and years between the layers with new experiences needed to finish.
For McGree, painting and relief work require a different mindset. Painting is a two-dimensional practice. Tools and techniques must give the illusion of depth. She can paint over quickly, change her mind often, and there is no “rush.” In relief, she has limited time before the work starts to dry. To create the illusion of flow, she must move forward with confidence, “even if it’s fake confidence.” She can scrape off, apply other layers, or carve, but she finds that “the discipline of a committed jump with forced quick decisions is really fun.”
Whether a subtle or vibrant tone, McGree feels color that flows through a strong hand and an open heart. Landscapes, animals, and people, they all meet in her paintings, their energy held and balanced through strong and aggressive brushstrokes and subtle movements of smaller brushes. She likes to emphasize the enormous beauty in simplistic images, “to help others take the time to stop and begin to notice simple moments of splendor. I use light, reflections, and bright colors to transform objects from seemingly mundane to painterly and stimulating.”
A sixth generation Montanan, McGree’s grandmother was an artist and McGree’s greatest source of inspiration. In the summer family vacation at the lake, Gram, a mother of nine children and a multitude of grandchildren, would bring out the watercolors for all to paint in the morning. When the lake called everyone else, McGree stayed and painted with Gram, who had brought out the “REAL” watercolors. With Gram gone, McGree sees that her grandmother was walking a young woman towards recognizing the artist she had always been.
McGree did not go to college for a BFA but scored high in art at Gonzaga University. She found she was always in love with art and received her BFA degree, was an Assistant Professor of Art there, and then went backpacking across Europe for six months to see the art she loved.
On returning, McGree“flailed without any idea of how to actually make a living doing the thing I loved.” She calls it her ‘Peter Pan’ time, as a raft guide, ski instructor, bus driver, and waitress, while painting on the side. She attended Montana State University, got a BA in Art Education, and became a teaching artist for Art Mobile of Montana. She traveled Montana in a van sharing original art and teaching art for four years; “It felt like kismet; my family is in the business of driving trucks and vans and here was an art + trucker job!”
Wanting to bring art to all people, McGree studied and received a MA in holistic Programming, Practice, and Outreach from Prescott College. She developed her own non-profit for Montana, Project MART, going anywhere where art could bring joy. She didn’t want art to be only for the rich and “wanted to make art powerful for all, owned by all, created by all.” But, she quickly realized that she still loved the studio practice more than running a non-profit day to day.
Although not in love with the business of anything, McGree became part of the Montana Artrepreneur program in 2012. She says, “I received the best art business advice in all of my educational experiences.” She also completed and received her MAP certification of Market Ready Artist.
As a life-long learner, McGree “teaches to share, possibly inspire, and to bring happiness to humans when they need it most. That's why I make art, to get others to feel and to celebrate the inner and outer world. Beauty needs a pause to be truly experienced; artists help us all do that.” Her classes are evolving as she balances teaching with her own creative time.
However, McGree offers a free “Be Creative in 2022” class currently: https://allisonmcgree.com/pages/be-creative-in-2022, with a paid one planned for February. She offers: “Feeling in Color” online or in person https://allisonmcgree.com/.../private-online-covid-19...; private art coaching and mentorship in person or online https://allisonmcgree.com/pages/private-art-lessons; “Sip and Paint” classes online and in person and for all ages: https://allisonmcgree.com/pages/private-parties.
In 2022, McGee’s paintings will be in Montana at Gallery 287 (Ennis), Hattie and Co (Bozeman), and Eureka Boutique (Helena). She has shows scheduled at Bozeman Wine Gallery, Ascent Bank (Helena), Bloom Therapy (Bozeman), McCaw and Company (Bozeman), Bozeman Real Estate, Implement Productions (Bozeman), Canyon Enterprise Plaza (Montana City), Allison McGree Fine Art Studio (Bozeman). In April, she will be at Bozeman Brewing Company AKA Bozone.
The artist is available for murals, sculpted-relief artworks, commissions, and parties. An example of a party experience was the wedding she attended and painted live during the reception with touchups done later in her studio.
Visit McGree’s website at: https://allisonmcgree.com. Or contact her directly at [email protected]. Or keep up with her on the following: https://www.facebook.com/allisonmcgreefineart, https://www.instagram.com/allisonmcgreefineart, https://www.linkedin.com/in/allisonmcgree.