May 19, 2015
A Gift of Art from two Providence College parents
By Vicki-Ann Downing
One day in early October, a visitor in a BMW baseball cap sat on a campstool facing Harkins Hall.
In his right hand he held a fistful of black pencils, their tips roughly sharpened with a razor. With his left, he drew quick strokes across a sketchpad balanced on his knees.
Mark McMahon, an internationally-renowned artist from Chicago, came to Providence College at the request of Doug and Joanie Kingsley ’16P, the parents of Doug Kingsley ’16 (Sherborn, Mass.), to create a painting as a lasting gift to the College. McMahon’s watercolors, drawings, and murals grace museums, public installations, and private collections throughout the world, including the Smithsonian.
campus in October 2014.
From campus sidewalks, the patio of the Ruane Center for the Humanities, and the roof of St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, McMahon sketched a variety of campus scenes, focusing on the main buildings because, he said, “they give you the heart of the school.” Back in Chicago, he added watercolor and acrylic paint to the images.
McMahon’s painting of Harkins Hall now hangs outside the office of College President Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P. ’80.
The Kingsleys also purchased his painting of St. Dominic Chapel for their home. A third work was auctioned at A Night in Black & White in April and appears on the cover of this issue of Providence College Magazine.
McMahon uses a style pioneered by his late father, Franklin McMahon, whose sketches and watercolors captured the Vatican II Council, the Nixon-Kennedy debate, and the Emmett Till murder trial. His work was exhibited at PC’s Hunt-Cavanagh Gallery in 2007.
The Kingsleys, whose generous support of the College’s mission includes a $500,000 gift to create a new Peer Ministry Program at PC, said they were thrilled with the outcome of McMahon’s visit.
“Mark really captured the joy, the activity, and the spirit of the Providence College campus,” Joanie Kingsley said. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the result.”
