Ellie MacGarry (UK, 1991) peels away the garments and layers that we so often use to hide our private selves, uncovering tender introspection and an intimate exploration of the body. Through her paintings and ceramics, she foregrounds fleeting and intimate moments involving the body and its everyday transformations.
MacGarry studied Fine Art at the University of Leeds in 2014 where she was awarded the Berkofsky Award; on completion her work was acquired by Leeds City Art Gallery as part of the Ben Read Graduate Acquisition fund. She gained her MFA in painting from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2018 as a recipient of the Felix Slade scholarship, winning the Melville Nettleship Prize. She has exhibited widely across the UK and has taken part in artist’s residencies in Leeds, London and Hong Kong. Recent exhibitions include ‘In Hiding’ at the Academy of Visual Arts in Hong Kong, ‘Imagen Vibratoria’ at the Museo Nahim Isaias in Ecuador and ‘on plon air’ curated by 12ø collective in London, UK.
Selected Exhibitions
2019
Come Undone, (SOLO), Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
Sensitive Matter, Bridget Riley Studios, London, UK
Testing, Unit 3 projects, London, UK
2018
In hiding, Academy of Visual Arts, HKBU, Hong Kong
OH SHE DOES LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEESIDE, Spanish City Centre, Whitley Bay, UK(curated by SHELF)
Slade Graduate Degree Show, Slade school of fine art, London, UK
2017
Imagen Vibratoria, bajo el paraguas de su reproduccion, Museo Nahim Isaias, Guauaquil, Ecuador
Slade Interim Show, Slade school of fine art, London, UK
Nn plon air, 12ø collective, London, UK (Artlicks weekend)
Steal the show, Bentinck Street, Glasgow, UK
2016
Fresh ‘n’ Frozen, 12ø Collective, London, UK (Artlicks weekend)
Copeland Collective, Copeland Park, London, UK (Artlicks weekend)
Prod + Push, Sunny Bank Mills, Leeds, UK (co-curated by Ellie MacGarry)
HOT DESK, London, UK
Are you ready?, Caravan, Manchester, UK
S/S 18, Unna Way, Huddersfield, UK
Visual Candy, Assembly House, Leeds, UK
Part of the Furniture, Tall Boys, Leeds, UK
2015
Cascading Relevant Information, CBS @ Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK
Sluice, Bargehouse Gallery, OXO Tower Wharf, London, UK
Bankley Open, Bankley Gallery, Manchester, UK
Manchester Contemporary, Old Granada Studios, Manchester, UK
Plus One, Assembly House Project Space, Leeds, UK
Tracing Paper, Paper Gallery, Manchester, UK
Edible Painting (an event as part of Painting in Time), The Tetley Gallery, Leeds, UK
Contemporary British Abstraction, SE9 Container Gallery, London, UK
2014
Overseasoned part deux, Salt + Powell @ Artemis House (curated by It’s All Tropical), York, UK
Leeds Revisited, BIG Gallery, Dortmund, Germany
Surfacing, Leeds, UK,(curated by Ellie MacGarry)
Graduate Residency Exhibition, Patrick Studios, East Street Arts, Leeds, UK
Pareidolia, Pluspace, Coventry, UK
_Matters, Leeds University Degree Show 2014, University of Leeds, UK
OVERTIME: Art and the Office, curated by SEIZE, Wellington Street, Leeds, UK
2013
Evident Resident II, Galerie MAD, Marseille, France
UB26, The Light, Leeds, UK
Collections
Laidlaw Library, University of Leeds, 2015 - 2016
Leeds City Art Gallery
Private Collections
Awards
Artist in Residence, AVA Hong Kong, 2018
Slade Summer Residency, 2018
Melville Nettleship Prize, Slade School of Fine Art, 2018
Felix Slade scholarship, Slade School of Fine Art, 2016-18
Tracing Paper Mentorship, Paper Gallery Manchester, 2015
Berkofsky Arts Award, University of Leeds, 2014
Ben Read Graduate Acquisition Fund, University of Leeds/Leeds City Art Gallery, 2014
East Street Arts Graduate Residency, 2014
Publications
5 Questions, Elephant Magazine, April 2019
Artwork of the day, Elephant Magazine, April 2019
Looking at Painting volume 1
Terraform (issue 2)
Education
2018
MFA Painting, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK
2014
BA (Hons) Fine Art (International), University of Leeds, Leeds, UK