Greta Chapin McGill

About the Artist

Greta Chapin McGill, grew up to the African American music of Motown and Miles Davis. A Washington DC native, her memories of going to classical music concerts at the Constitution Hall with her father are among her fondest memories.  She discovered color when, at the age of 10 her parents sent her to Saturday morning art classes.  Here her life was transformed.  …The smell of the oils was intoxicating to me…   She studied at Howard University, as well as Corcoran School of Art. Leaving the US to live and work in Firenze,Italy, Chapin McGill visited the European capitols of art and architecture. In recent years, she has spen an extended amount of time living and working in the rocky silences, beauty and light of Northern New Mexico and engaging in an independent study of art and architecture of the villas of the Cote d’ Azure including the Eileen Gray house e-1027.  She is profoundly inspired by her African ancestry and incorporates these very diverse experiences into her art. Chapin McGill will travel to Venice be view the Biennale Architettura 2018 - La Biennale di Venezia and live and work with four international artists at the Casa Zinardi Venice Art House.    Not afraid to try different techniques to achieve what her mind is seeing. She compares the mixing of mediums and colors as feeling of an intense love affair.  As a writer she has published fiction and poetry as well as lifetyle and beauty articles.     “I am abstractly real and sensual in my work and in my life. I paint, write, and live to bring my thoughts and creations from the invisible to the visible”. -Greta Chapin McGill

Artist's Statement

grew up to the music of the African American experience of my time, from Motown to Miles. My parents had an extensive and eclectic music collection. One of my fondest memories is of going to a classical music concert at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. I remember my Dad telling me to close my eyes and see the Aq Me the heat of the Caribbean and the rocky silences of Northern New Mexico. I see things through the eyes of a dreamer. Always finding the color, the music and the love in everything. I am not afraid to try different techniques to achieve what my mind is seeing. Mixing mediums is like an intense orgasm. I have been influenced by the art of Paris in 1900, the collection of Henry Barnes, and the 1913 Armory Show. The colors of Kente cloth, the Shona sculpture of Zimbabwe, Modigliani, Bearden, Lois Mallou Jones, Jacob Lawrence and Derain, the Viennese Sessionist Movement, Leger, Jean Cocteau, Miro and Picasso. Contemporary artists Leon Berkowitz and the Washington Color School and Henry Jackson and Jack Whitten. Indigenous tribal colors and patterns are also evident in my work I am abstractly real in my work and in my life. I paint, write, and live to bring these creations from the invisible to the visible.”