ARTIST STATEMENT
McNulty’s 3D Photo Mosaics were born from her love of genealogy, pop culture & history. Each mosaic carries a positive social message including people from the Women’s/Civil/LGBTQ rights movements, people that have made a difference in music, science & politics as well as more playful subjects such as music, comedy, authors and Chicago sports teams/iconic people & places.
These works are hand-designed reliefs adhered to hundreds of mosaic tiles. This process is very time consuming, as every image is researched for accuracy to the subject matter. Each photo’s layout & color are digitally manipulated to work in the design, then cropped & angled to fit in the larger image, for example, part of a nostril or a bird’s feather. The hundreds of photos are adhered to tiles and placed on several levels to give dimension. This process gives depth & engages the viewer by requiring them move in closely to see the small detailed photos, then step back to observe the overall image.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
In 2011, McNulty began creating her 3D Photo Mosaics and in 2013 she pursued galleries to exhibit her work and within 2 months had exhibited in 2 Chicago galleries, including Morpho Gallery where she was selected for their “Best Of Emerging Artists 2013” exhibition. Her “John Lennon: Peace” was selected for a national traveling exhibit for the “Peace Project” & was published in their coffee table book in 2013. She has exhibited widely, including Rockford Art Museum’s 73rd Midwestern Biennial, Bridgeport Art Center’s 2nd Annual Juried Art Competition, Woman Made Gallery’s 18th & 24th International Opens and Beverly Arts Center’s 45th Annual Art Comp where she received Best of Show in April 2022. McNulty was also selected by Oak Park Education Foundation to teach in their Art Start Program every year since 2014. She was also interviewed on VOP-TV about her career & artistic process, which aired June 2015. In December 2024, McNulty was interviewed on CBS Morning News about her career and works on display at Chicago’s One of A Kind Show. She has exhibited in over 50 local, regional and international exhibitions from 2013-2024, including 15 solo exhibitions, most recently for Redezvous Arts 2022-23 series paired with well-known musicians Fareed Haque & Goran Ivanovich in Feb 2023.
McNulty currently divides much of her time between her family and working in her art studio. She currently resides in Oak Park, Illinois, where the bulk of her work is in commissions for her 3D Photo Mosaic pieces.
© Jen McNulty