From Me in Her to Her in Me
Irene Delka McCray
November 17th – December 30th, 2023
McMahon Gallery
Opening Reception
November 17th, 2023 from 5:00 – 8:00pm
“Can we imagine that at the essence of human being is an insistence upon being witnessed – by others, by gods, by the cosmos itself – and that the inner force of character cannot be concealed from this display. The image will out, and the last years put the final finish to the image.”
These paintings and drawings reflect on my mother in her final months with Alzheimer’s. The work honors and explores the metaphysical journey we took together, her leading and I following, extending my life backwards in favor of her long ago, and reflecting the reversal of trust, from me in her to her in me. Even with a lifetime of witnessing the strength of my mother’s character, it’s her end years that impress me the most.
This work also serves to encourage public visibility of our elders and opposes the cultural dismissal of “the aged”, which, among many other injustices, was brought to light during the COVID pandemic. The sluggish and indifferent response to the evident vulnerabilities of elderly citizens in care homes has prompted me to paint and draw my mother from memory, imagination, and photos taken of her through the windows that separated us throughout the lockdown.
To think that elders are insignificant in a world that is so consumed with productivity and usefulness is simply unjust and offensive. Longevity is its own state of being: holding meaning and discovery in layers of lasting. As the old fold into themselves, they assist in the outward expansion of those around them, connecting us with lost threads of a cultural past and presenting for us what and who we arrive out of.
The beautiful and complex profundities of wizened old flesh seem to me to take on a likeness to leaf veins, so I make those pairings in some of the drawings. The layering of imagery returns her, in my mind, to the expansive mystery of nature and the “all”.
Exhibition Resources
About the Artist
A Boulder, Colorado native, Irene Delka McCray earned her BFA from Colorado State University and her MFA degree from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She taught for seven years at Santa Fe Community College and three years at Santa Fe International Academy of Art. During her time in New Mexico she studied in earnest Archetypal Dream Work with Ann Yeomans, whose treatment of psychic imagery continues to impact her paintings and drawings that arrive out of the soul realm of human experience. McCray, now retired, taught at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design for twenty-three years.
McCray’s paintings and drawings of the figure and cloth have been exhibited widely, primarily in Colorado, New Mexico, and California. Her work is in the Denver Art Museum’s Permanent Collection and the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art in Denver. Other exhibition venues include the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, CO, the Center for Visual Arts, CO, Boulder Center for the Visual Arts, CO, Pacific Grove Art Center, CA, Oakland Center for the Arts, CA, Kansas City Arts Coalition, MO, and the Museum of New Mexico. She is a former member of Pirate, a Contemporary Art Oasis, CO, and was represented by Sandra Phillips Gallery, CO.
Public Programming
Boulder Eats At The Dairy
June 4 @ 5:30 pm
$77.50 – $87.50
Boulder Eats at the Dairy: Panel Discussion & Communal Supper
Presented in connection with the Set the Table exhibit at the Dairy Arts Center, Boulder Eats at the Dairy is a special evening that brings the exhibition’s themes to life—exploring how food, culture, and community converge at the table.
In collaboration with the Museum of Boulder’s exhibition Boulder Eats and Community Table Kitchen—the social enterprise of Boulder Bridge House—the event highlights Boulder’s rich food heritage and the cultural and ecological systems shaping how we share and experience food today.
The evening begins with a panel discussion moderated by acclaimed food writer and radio host John Lehndorff, featuring local restaurateurs and culinary professionals. Together, they will reflect on Boulder’s evolving food landscape and the ways food is a site for rich artistry and creativity on and off the table.
Following the conversation, guests will gather for a communal dining experience featuring three chef-curated tasting stations by Boulder Bridge House. Each station—Comfort, Migration, and Celebration—offers a lens into how food across Boulder and the Front Range connects us to memory, movement, and belonging.
More than a meal, the evening uplifts the work of Boulder Bridge House, whose culinary training program provides vital job skills, daily meals, and pathways out of homelessness. The chefs and servers participating in the event are part of this initiative, grounding the experience in both exceptional food and meaningful social impact.
About Community Table Kitchen:
Community Table Kitchen (CTK) is a Boulder-based social enterprise catering and food production program of Bridge House. We provide high-quality, seasonal food for events while offering paid job training and employment for individuals working to rebuild their lives after experiencing homelessness. Through our catering, café, and food production programs, we combine thoughtful, from-scratch cooking with meaningful workforce development, using food as a tool to build community and create pathways to long-term stability.
About Boulder Eats! exhibit at Museum of Boulder:
Boulder Eats! is an exhibition at the Museum of Boulder focusing on food traditions along the Front Range, with a special emphasis on our community’s restaurants, farms, and kitchens. Over 300 objects from the Museum’s historic collection featuring kitchens, health food businesses, orchards, schools and restaurants will be on view. Programs including cooking classes, demonstrations, nutrition workshops and more will also be available to our visitors making this a can’t miss experience.
Using objects from the Museum’s permanent collection, the exhibit tells Boulder’s story through the foods we eat. Exploring our farms and gardens, the evolving technology in our kitchens, the impact Boulder’s natural food businesses have had on our own and our nation’s health, as well as the cultural stories reflected at our dinner tables both at home and in local restaurants come together to tell and even shape our community’s history. Boulder Eats! Food Traditions along the Front Range explores Boulder and how the food we consume energizes, celebrates, and reflects our traditions, who we have become, and what we value today.
About John Lehndorff:
John Lehndorff is the Food Editor of the Boulder Reporting Lab and Exhibit Historian for the Boulder Eats exhibit at the Museum of Boulder. He has written about food and culture in Boulder for nearly five decades including as the Food Editor of the Daily Camera, and Dining Critic for the Rocky Mountain News. A former restaurant cook, caterer and cooking teacher, Lehndorff hosts Radio Nibbles and Kitchen Table Talk on KGNU. He is the former Executive Director of the American Pie Council and Chief Judge at the National Pie Championships.