{"id":74902,"date":"2024-05-09T09:29:12","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T16:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=74902"},"modified":"2024-06-05T14:51:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T21:51:34","slug":"mckay-lenker-bayers-mere-maison-crafts-a-tribute-to-maternal-complexities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/mckay-lenker-bayers-mere-maison-crafts-a-tribute-to-maternal-complexities\/","title":{"rendered":"McKay Lenker Bayer’s “Mere Maison” Crafts a Tribute to Maternal Complexities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a><\/h4>\n

You may already be familiar with McKay Lenker Bayer<\/a>, or at least with her creative mind. She\u2019s the one who decided you should get on your hands and knees with a magnifying glass to look at really small versions of art. What began as a class assignment, and became a way for the artist to overcome her own apprehension about exhibiting her paintings, turned into The Tiny Art Show<\/a>\u2014a project that exploded in the year before the pandemic. It became a phenomenon, especially in Utah County, popping up in places as varied as museums and utility boxes, and often included playful elements like equally tiny refreshments. In Mere Maison<\/em>, her exhibition now up at Writ and Vision, she\u2019s thinking again about tiny wonders and transforming spaces, but in a much more personal way.<\/h4>\n

\u201cYou are your baby’s home,\u201d is what Bayer\u2019s prenatal yoga teacher told her when she became pregnant in 2021. It was a time filled with expectation but also, after a previous miscarriage, trepidation. Returning to art-making after the successful birth of her son in 2022, she began reflecting on the ideas kindled in those prenatal classes. As the baby grows, so does its home, and motherhood becomes an adaptive, nurturing experience.<\/h4>\n