ABOUT

 

Baggs McKelvey holds an MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a BFA from the University of Georgia. She lives, works, and teaches in the Chattanooga area, where she serves as Associate Professor of Visual Arts at Chattanooga State Community College.

​

McKelvey’s work has been exhibited widely. Most recently, she presented a solo, site-specific installation, Indigo Hallow, at the University Art Gallery on the University of the South campus in Sewanee, Tennessee. Her commissioned projects include installations for the Children’s Discovery Museum and the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga. She was awarded a solo exhibition at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft as part of Fibers in 3D, and her work has been featured in Fiber Art Now magazine and online. Additional solo installations have been exhibited at Jacksonville State University, the Gadsden Museum of Art, ArtFields 2021, and other venues.

​

An interdisciplinary artist working in installation, sculpture, sound, and mixed media, McKelvey explores the poetic and sensory connections between people and the natural world. Using discarded, mass-produced, and crowd-sourced materials, she creates immersive environments that investigate landscape, movement, and ecological systems through a feminist lens. Her recent sculptures reflect on the female body, power, and perception, balancing playfulness and curiosity with an emerging sense of dread.