About

My studio practice is grounded in process-based experimentation. I’m continually negotiating my roles as teacher, student, mother, and mentor. Abstraction functions both as a method of inquiry and a strategy to better understand the tensions within these inherent roles as well as the broader systems that shape my life.

I hold a deep reverence for the natural world - wild and cultivated - and engage in it with equal parts awe and fear. Gardens, particularly flowers, are recurring themes in my work. Flowers say: I love you. I'm sorry. I'm with you. I'm proud of you. I miss you. They ask us to pay attention.

 I'm interested in the complexities of human connection and exchange. What does it mean to cultivate care? I work while in conversation with friends, colleagues, and family. I work while listening to podcasts, news, and books – these interactions build the work. I puzzle my way through compositions while listening, destabilizing forms to generate possibilities and create space for hope.

Stacey Boughrum McCarthy earned her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University in 2006 and her BA in English and Studio Art from Boston College in 2001. She exhibits throughout New England, and her work is included in many private and corporate collections. She is the Head of Visual Arts at the Middlesex School in Concord, MA. Formerly, she taught at Boston College, The Boston Architectural College, and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and has worked on many collaborative community-based projects throughout the Boston area. Born in South Carolina, she now splits time between Massachusetts and Maine.

Contact: sbmccarthy@gmail.com