2020 Senior Exhibition Artists 2020 Senior Exhibition Artists: Cassie McKane

Biography

Cassie McKane has earned an Associates of Art (AA) degree with a concentration in Graphic Design from Bristol Community College (BCC), and a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in Visual Communication/Graphic Design from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Cassie found her passion for curating, designing and installing visual art while working as a Gallery Assistant for the College of Visual and Performing Arts at UMass. She will pursue work in galleries and exhibition spaces after graduation and looks forward to a rewarding career in the visual arts.

Statement

This project was a result of my love for exhibition spaces, and the work that goes into curating and installing an exhibition. I have spent the past three years working for galleries and doing everything from graphic design to scraping tiny vinyl letters off the wall. I fully invested myself within exhibition culture, and I decided that this is where I belong. I want to curate exhibitions in the future, and I created this “mockup” or model exhibition as a way to experience planning each element of the show for the first time.

This exhibition includes work from four photographers; Kelly Burgess, Maureen Drennan, Jody Poorwill, and Tara Wray, as well as one author, David Foster Wallace. I formatted his speech “This is Water” into a booklet format that would be used as a “takeaway” at the exhibition. Deliverables designed for this project include: exhibition catalog, speech booklet, postcard design, poster design, and three modular exhibition models. These models are miniature dioramas used to display possible exhibition layout design.

The capstone project is educational; it is a lesson for me and the viewer of this project. “This is water” is broadly about mindfulness, and our ability to recognize and accept somewhat troubling things in our lives and other lives. All of the photographers I selected for the exhibition create work that exposes some of the hardships they have faced. These artists are not using the images to seek attention or ask for help, but rather suggesting that it is okay and normal to experience things like depression, loneliness, and heartbreak. I am asking the viewers of the exhibition to overcome our society’s stigmas and the assumptions that force us to hide from our problems—or, try to “fix” ourselves and everyone around us.

Contact

Email: cassmckane@gmail.com
Website: cassiemckane.com

Slideshow

1. Exhibition Catalog / Speech Booklet, 2020, hardcover, paper, 7″ x 7″ (bottom), 4″ x 4″ (top)
2. Catalog Inner Pages, 2020, paper, 7″ x 7″
3. Catalog Inner Pages (detail), 2020, paper, 7″ x 7″
4. Speech Booklet Inner Pages, 2020, paper, 4″ x 4″
5. Speech Booklet Inner Pages (detail), 2020, paper, 4″ x 4″
6. Exhibition Postcard, 2020, cardstock, 5″ x 7
7. Modular exhibition system, 2020, birch wood, balsa wood, 6″ x 6″ x 6″
8. Modular exhibition system, 2020, birch wood, balsa wood, 6″ x 6″ x 6″
9. Exhibition poster, 2020, paper, 11″ x 17″