Redux Contemporary Art Center is excited to present True North a solo show featuring the work of Morgan Kinne. By thoughtfully showcasing the unique artistic practice of a single artist, Redux’s solo exhibitions aim to demonstrate the organization’s commitment to highlighting the work of our region’s emerging artists. This exhibition presents a body of work created by Morgan Kinne, using the house as the ‘North Star’ of metaphors. 

Buildings naturally speak of contrasts, of opening and closing, revealing and concealing. They penetrate deep into the imagination and stimulate mystery, poetry, beauty and play.  Stories lie in the history, labor and structural intelligence of the built environment. Even in its finished form, it bears the imprint of the people who have built it. We leave traces of ourselves every day, in everything we encounter. These traces offer clues to our identity. Even the smallest impression holds within it the creation of place, memory and history.  

Driven by a deep curiosity for people and culture Morgan Kinne’s work develops as layered objects built up through a repetitive process. She looks for universals to find parallels between different cultural narratives, abstracting the environment to examine the perceived and experienced contexts we find ourselves in, and works in juxtapositions- using both found and fabricated materials, precious and non-precious, manipulating traditional processes to expose the beauty in dirt alongside the crudeness of refinement.  

With a background in sculpture, Morgan’s process is tactile, expressive and experimental. While the work may be unmistakably Charleston, its roots can be translated anywhere – history and culture is evident in the built walls of a town. Wandering the streets, among the homes, she sees relationships between geography and culture, people and objects.

Morgan Kinne is the recipient of the Coastal Community Foundation’s Gryffith-Reyburn Lowcountry Artist of the Year Award 2020, that supports the creation of a new work that represents unique aspects of the Lowcountry’s lifestyle, culture and environment. Her work is often recognizable, approachable and in some ways, beautiful. But it is also a challenge. With the award winning piece, she hopes to engage the community with all aspects of Charleston life. The beauty of course, but also more uncomfortable themes like rising waters, inequity and irresponsible development- addressing a wide spectrum of Lowcountry life, aesthetics and history.

Morgan holds a BFA in Sculpture from Winthrop University and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Edinburgh.  Since 2018, she has been an artist in residence with conNECKtedTOO → TINYisPOWERFUL, a collective of artists, educators and activists embracing the arts and the spirit of the arts as activators of sustainability.  From Rock Hill, SC, she has lived and worked in Charleston since 2014.