“THREE BOYS. THREE STORIES”: Artist Mary Ann McKay will discuss her work in “Silent Voices: Art of the Children of the Mines” on Thursday, April 15 at 7 p.m. online via Zoom. The presentation is part of Artsbridge’s Distinguished Artists’ Series.

Artsbridge’s Distinguished Artists’ Series will feature Mary Ann McKay in “Silent Voices: Art of the Children of the Mines” on Thursday, April 15 at 7 p.m. online via Zoom.

McKay’s mixed media art feels like it comes through her DNA, as she bears witness to the plight of child laborers her coal miner grandfather saw and worked with in Pennsylvania. Using images taken around 1911 by Lewis Wickes Hine, photographer for the National Child Labor Committee, she combines her painting and digital skills with glass, metal, cold wax, oil and film to create extraordinary works that bring color and life back to children’s lives lost to child labor during the industrial age.

“My research discovered children as young as 8 years old working in the mines, especially the ‘breaker houses,’ where they sat as long as 10 hours a day, separating and breaking the coal into small pieces by hand. With my artistic efforts, I hope to return a voice to these forgotten boys,” said McKay.

In 2019, McKay shifted her focus to Hine’s images of young boys working around-the-clock in the southern New Jersey glass industry, for her Children of Glass Series. In addition to her focus on children, earlier work concentrated on abandoned steel and glass factories. “Being from Pennsylvania, I understood the problems and hardships of the industrial working class,” she said.

McKay received her art education at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art and The Hussian College of Art in Philadelphia. After many years as a graphic designer, she now devotes her time to creating her interdisciplinary art in her studio in Keyport, where she also serves as vice president of The Arts Society of Keyport. Her work has been shown in galleries throughout New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

To learn more about McKay, visit MaryAnnMcKay.com.To attend the free Zoom presentation or for more information, visit artsbridgeonline.com.