KERRY IRVINE

New York City-based, abstract expressionist Kerry Irvine’s artist statement hangs on one of the walls of her studio on the 80th floor of 3 World Trade Center. It begins with “Here is now, here’s hope. Here’s the journey, here is taking risks, here is trust.” The powerful words are evocative of Irvine’s own journey to her light-filled studio high above the city; she has worked out of empty space at 4 WTC, 7 WTC, and 120 Broadway before moving to her current space, which she calls her favorite so far. “But they’ve all been wonderful in their own way,” she reflects. “And I've created amazing work in each of them, and I can go through my collection and see and remember where I was at and in my life and location and how it affected all the work.”

Working at the World Trade Center holds a very special significance for Irvine, who lost her sister Kristy Irvine Ryan on 9/11. “Look where I paint, it's still hard to believe,” she muses. “I can go down there to the 9/11 Memorial, her name is directly across the street, I can touch her name and come upstairs and work.”

Irvine experiments with different colors and brushstrokes, beginning each work with the purpose of exploring the blank canvas, which she calls “so terrifying.” “I just start building paint on it, just to get something on it, to break the seal,” she explains about her process.  Both Irvine’s personal experience and the history of the area serve as inspirations for her work. “When I’m a little bit stuck, I’ll just stretch my legs and I’ll walk around,” she says. “When I see the depth and  how immense this whole project has been, it’s overwhelming, and it’s beautiful, and it’s real.”