Jillian McDonald facts for kids
Jillian McDonald is a cool conceptual artist and curator from Canada. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. Her art is often funny and uses ideas from popular films. She creates art using videos, internet art, live shows, installations (art you can walk through), and photos.
Jillian is interested in how much people love celebrities in America. She also explores extreme fandom (being a huge fan) and ideas from horror films. Her recent art often features zombies, masks, and paranormal experiences (things that seem spooky or unexplainable). These artworks are sometimes set in cold, northern places.
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What Kind of Art Does Jillian McDonald Make?
Jillian McDonald is known for her unique and often funny art. She takes everyday ideas and turns them into something new and interesting. She uses different ways to make her art, like making videos, creating art for the internet, and setting up special art displays.
Exploring Fame and Horror
In some of her most famous works, Jillian changed romantic scenes from Hollywood movies. She used digital tools to add herself or new ideas to films with actors like Billy Bob Thornton, Vincent Gallo, and Johnny Depp. She did this to explore how much people can become obsessed with celebrities.
One of her well-known pieces is called The Screaming. In this art, she put herself into famous horror films like The Shining and Alien. She would scream at the scary monsters in the movies, trying to scare them away or even destroy them!
Another cool artwork is Horror Makeup. For this piece, Jillian put on zombie makeup while riding the subway. She transformed herself into a zombie right there on her commute! This art makes people think about how we see ourselves and others.
Where Has Her Art Been Shown?
Jillian McDonald's art has been shown in many places around the world. People can see her videos, installations, and photos in art galleries and museums.
Valley of the Deer Installation
In 2013, Jillian created a special art installation called Valley of the Deer. This project included a three-channel video (meaning three videos playing at once), augmented reality (where digital images are added to the real world), and drawings. She made these pieces while she was an artist-in-residence at the Glenfiddich International Artist Residency in Scotland. The videos in Valley of the Deer even featured people from Dufftown and other towns in Northern Scotland.
- Centre Clark, "Valley of the Deer", Montreal, Canada (2015)
- UWAG, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, "Valley of the Deer", Waterloo, Canada (2015)
- Esker Foundation, "Valley of the Deer", Calgary, Canada (2013)
- Hallwalls, ‘’RedRum", Buffalo, NY (2010)
- Arizona State University Museum, "Alone Together in the Dark", Tempe, AZ (2009 - 2010)
- Lilith Performance Studio, "Undead in the Night", Malmo, Sweden (2009)
