Artist Talk with arist Lucy Allen and curator Eli Walker

Basketshop Gallery respectfully invites your participation in exhibiting Lucy Kirkman Allen: Long Days.  Allen’s reverence for history is displayed by her use of materials and techniques such as earth pigments and egg tempera, but with a levity of hand that is decidedly contemporary. Through the inspiration of the old masters, Allen channels a deep appreciation for narratives that signify bold acts of heroism, beauty and tragedy.
Over the past years, Allen and her husband have struggled with medical complications that have resulted in recurrent miscarriages and fertility treatments.  At various points in this time, she continued her painting practice through private reproductions of her experience. Though these works are extremely personal, the artist feels that there is benefit in sharing her paintings of this difficult subject to address her grief, reflect on the female bodily experience, and to express solidarity with others that share the couple’s reality.
Lucy Kirkman Allen studied painting at the Cooper Union in New York, NY and was a Harriet Hale Woolley Scholar at the Fondation des Etats-Unis, Paris, France. She worked in Dallas, TX, where she and Justin Hunter Allen co-directed the experimental gallery Studio DTFU and were founding members of SCAB, a network of artist-run exhibition spaces. Her work has been covered in national and international press. She and her husband now live in the Tidewater region of Virginia at their farm Long Days. Recent collaborative curatorial and publishing projects include Serendipity: Williams House, #FFFHEX Gallery, and The Airplant Project.