Sasha-Loriene McClain's portfolio

Work samples

Happy happy, joy joy

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Happy happy, joy joy, 2023, Acrylic, Oil Pastel, String, and Found Object on Canvas, 40x30x1.5 in.

Happy happy, joy joy represents the small youthful moments of joy that can be felt in everyday life and serves as a reminder that we have more choice and autonomy that we often may feel or see.
Where to next?

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Where to next?, 2023, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 36x36x1.5 in.

Where to next? represents our innate curiosity, exploratory, and experimental nature that is/was often celebrated during childhood. The balloon symbolizes our hopes, dreams, and memories (both ancestral individual) and how it can be used to steer us through multiple facets of life.
Grandma's watchin'

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Grandma's watchin', 2023, Acrylic, Oil Pastel & String on Canvas, 48x30x1.5 in.

Grandma’s watchin’ is dedicated to the artist’s grandmother who passed away two months after her birth. Growing up hearing stories and wishing she could have known her grandmother, that loss created a void. Sasha-Loriene recreates her grandmother’s watch and uses the balloon to not only represent her grandmother but show how she is still connected with her.
Sister knows best

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Sister knows best, 2023, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 48x40x1.5 in.

Sister knows best represents the sisterhood of the artist and her close friend at the age that they met, 21. An instant connection was made between the two as they celebrated their now 10+ year sisterhood in the original photo.

About Sasha-Loriene

Baltimore City

Sasha-Loriene McClain is a Maryland based multidisciplinary artist whose work is informed by her inner-child healing journey, self-discovery, and search for home. Born to Liberian immigrants, Sasha-Loriene uses artmaking through storytelling to cultivate home independent of time, space, and location. Her practice explores mixed media figuration, surrealism, and abstraction, employing bold composition, texture, and personal subject matter to embody the human experience – the intersection of… more

View Sasha-Loriene's Resume

Good For The Soul

Good For The Soul is an ongoing body of work that documents my inner-child healing through ‘play.’ These works emphasize the importance of play and exploration in daily practice and are inspired by art forms enjoyed during my youth, including collage, found object, crochet, and installation. I incorporate fabrics and fibers gifted to me from people in my life and repurposed canvas from older works (studies from TEAL) into paintings of collages made for the sole purpose of experiencing joy regardless of the times. These works symbolize the fun aspect of artmaking that simply feels good for the soul while I simultaneously balance heavier subject matter in my past body of work (Mind You Well), my concurrent body of work (Child’s Play), and my research-based genealogy project beginning in 2024.

Where to next?

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Where to next?, 2023, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 36x36x1.5 in.

Where to next? represents our innate curiosity, exploratory, and experimental nature that is/was often celebrated during childhood. The balloon symbolizes our hopes, dreams, and memories (both ancestral and individual) and how it can be used to steer us through multiple facets of life.
When I grow up

Sasha-Loriene, When I grow up, 2022, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 48x30x1.5 in.

When I grow up was the first painting created in this collection, representing the artist as an adult through the eyes of her inner child.
Happy happy, joy joy

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Happy happy, joy joy, 2023, Acrylic, Oil Pastel, String, and Found Object on Canvas, 40x30x1.5 in.

Happy happy, joy joy represents the small youthful moments of joy that can be felt in everyday life and serves as a reminder that we have more choice and autonomy that we often may feel or see.
Ready yet, get set

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Ready yet, get set, 2023, Acrylic, Oil Pastel, String, and Found Object on Canvas, 30x24x1.5 in.

Ready yet, get set depicts the carefree nature of a child stepping into something new with confidence. This reminder of childhood and adolescent self efficacy reminds us that we are capable of building resiliency and embodiment practices.
Feelin' good, feelin' great

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Feelin’ good, feelin’ great, 2023, Acrylic, Oil Pastel, String, and Found Object on Canvas, 40x30x1.5 in.

Feelin’ good, feelin’ great represents our individual style and sense of self that remind us to be bold and show up with confidence despite the opinions of others.

Child's Play

Child’s Play is a body of work (collage-based paintings and installation) and community arts programming (inner-child collage workshops) that documents my inner-child healing through ‘play.’ These works are inspired by personal photos from family photo albums and influential friendships in my life. I incorporate mixed media, visual recordings taken during the creative process, and repurposed canvas from older studies of the TEAL Collection to emphasize the necessity of the past into the present while emphasizing play back into my daily practice in real time. As I find home in myself, I cultivate my own sense of belonging and celebrate my inner child Mahyue through sharing her stories.

My brother and me

Sasha-Loriene McClain, My brother and me, 2023, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 60x48x1.5 in.

My brother and me depicts the artist and her brother as children with respect to their seven-year age difference. The original photo was taken in 1994 at their childhood home, placing their ages in the painting around four and eleven, respectively. Sasha-Loriene highlights the childhood joy of each child during a time when sibling rivalry dominated their relationship to celebrate the close relationship she now shares with her brother in adulthood.
Grandma's watchin'

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Grandma's watchin', 2023, Acrylic, Oil Pastel & String on Canvas, 48x30x1.5 in.

Grandma’s watchin’ is dedicated to the artist’s grandmother who passed away two months after her birth. Growing up hearing stories and wishing she could have known her grandmother, that loss created a void. Sasha-Loriene recreates her grandmother’s watch and uses the balloon to not only represent her grandmother but show how she is still connected with her.
Sister knows best

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Sister knows best, 2023, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 48x40x1.5 in.

Sister knows best represents the sisterhood of the artist and her close friend at the age that they met, 21. An instant connection was made between the two as they celebrated their now 10+ year sisterhood in the original photo.
Thick as thieves

Sasha-Loriene McClain, Thick as thieves, 2023, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 48x30x1.5 in.

Thick as thieves depicts the artist and her brother (faces) through her two brother’s children (bodies). Always wanting a sibling close in age, Sasha-Loriene admires the close bond between her niece (4) & nephew (2).
The gangs all here

Sasha-Loriene McClain, The gang's all here, 2023, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Canvas, 60x48x1.5 in.

The gangs all here represents imaginary friends that many children connect with. Although the artist herself never had imaginary friends growing up, having kinship and community was something she always wanted. As such, this painting incorporates 11 of her closest friends (along with herself) into the faces of the four bodies, signifying the ‘imaginary friends’ that she would soon grow up to have in adulthood.

MUVA: MITOCHONDRIA

MUVA is a triptych dedicated to the ancestral memory that is passed down through the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). MUVA represents the eternal transdimensional connection between myself, my mother, my grandmother, and so on through the common ancestral maternal line of all living human beings known as Mitochondrial Eve to help fill the void of growing up without my grandmothers. Elements of this triptych can be seen throughout subsequent bodies of figurative work, particularly in hair and clothing. The women who came before me will continue to live within my works and artistic direction.

MITO

Sasha-Loriene McClain, MITO, 12x9x2 in, Acrylic, oil pastel and ink on wood panel, 2021
CHON

Sasha-Loriene McClain, CHON, 12x9x2 in, Acrylic, oil pastel, palo santo smudge, and ink on wood panel, 2020
DRIA+-+acrylic,+oil+pasted,+and+imk+on+wood+panel.jpg

Sasha-Loriene McClain, DRIA, 12x9x2 in, Acrylic, oil pastel and ink on wood panel, 2021.
MUVA: MITOCHONDRIA

MUVA (MITO, CHON, DRIA), Acrylic, Oil Pastel, Palo Santo Smudge, and Ink on Wood Panel Triptych Overall 12” x 27” x 2” (12” x 9” x 2” each), 2021

TEAL

TEAL: To Evolve And Liberate (the color of growth and renewal) is an intuitive manifestation of ‘tell your story in your artwork.’ This collection represents raw expression and growth of my artist practice through 15 older works originally created 5-9 years prior and reimagined via abstract expression and emotional alignment during my 30th year in 2021. Each work maintained their original name and was inspired by my childhood experiences and struggles with self-expression, verbal communication, and mental health. In moving through these feelings and emotions, I highlight my creative release by exploring abstract expression.

She Who Reigns

She Who Reigns, Acrylic, Oil, and Oil Pastel on Stretched Canvas, 40” x 30” x 2”, 2021
The Thinker

The Thinker, Acrylic, Oil, and Oil Pastel on Stretched Canvas, 36” x 36” x 2”, 2021
Wild Things

Wild Things, Acrylic, Oil, and Oil Pastel on Stretched Canvas, 36” x 24” x 1”, 2021
Swim Good

Swim good, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Stretched Canvas, 30” x 30” x 1”, 2021
Pretty Bird

Pretty Bird, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Stretched Canvas, 24” x 30” x 2”, 2021
Feelin' It

Feelin’ It, Acrylic, Oil Pastel, and Found Object on Stretched Canvas, 24” x 24” x 2”, 2021
Garden Party

Garden Party, Acrylic on Stretched Canvas, 36” x 24” x 1”, 2021
Beautiful Bliss

Beautiful Bliss, Acrylic and Oil Pastel on Stretched Canvas, 36” x 24” x 1”, 2021

Mahyue, Inner Child Healing

Mahyue [‘mäh·yo͞o], derived from the Bassa (Liberia) word for ‘girl’, is a collection of personal works inspired by the little girl that lives in me - the girl I tucked away in the past but always lived within my drawings, sketches, and paintings. In an effort of self-discovery and actualization, I reacquaint myself with Mahyue and let her run free. Her stories define me as a woman, artist, and being. Mahyue selects the tools and mediums to finally bring her dreams into reality in canvas form. In doing so, I examine the relationship of how I viewed my placement in the world during my childhood, being limitless and colorful while truly believing that ‘anything is possible’, with my placement as I grew into adulthood, my experiences shaping the world around me and changing my perspective to ‘anything is possible… within reason’ – an oxymoron. Whether I box myself within my own constraints, the world around me will continue to exist even if I don’t. So why not heal? Mahyue deserves it. I deserve it.

Mahyue #4

Mahyue #4, Oil and Oil Pastels on Stretched Canvas, 2020, 10”x8”x1”
Reconnection

Reconnection, Acrylic Paint and Oil Pastel on Stretched Canvas, 24”x18”x1”, 2020
Introspection

Introspection, Acrylic Paint and Oil Pastel on Stretched Canvas, 20”x16”x1”, 2020
Untitled

Untitled, Acrylic Paint on Stretched Canvas, 2020, 12”x9”x1”,
Mahyue #2.17

Mahyue #2.17, Acrylic Paint on Stretched Canvas, 24”x24”x1”, 2020

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