One of Bethlehem's architectural jewels is a five-story Victorian that stands nearly smack-dab in the middle of Main Street's most aesthetically pleasing stretch. Known in some circles as the Myers building for George Myers, the businessman who commissioned the building in the 1890s, its mansard roof, copper trim, transom windows and intricate stone relief carvings collectively make a daunting subject for anyone trying to recreate its handsome features with a pencil or paintbrush. It's not hard to imagine even the most seasoned of artists growing frustrated by the demand of the detail work and shoving the project aside. At one point, Connor McKee might have been among them. Now, though, after brushing off a certain rigidity in his attitude and style, McKee cites the building as one of his favorite muses in the Lehigh Valley.
McKee, a Lehigh Valley resident since he was a child, says he was fortunate to grow up in a home with four imaginative siblings (Evan, Aidan, Bronwyn and Rhiannon) and parents who encouraged their brood's creativity and were not bothered by a little (or a lot of) mess.
“At any point in time every surface was covered in something,” he says. His mother, Tami, is a visual artist who works in pen and ink, and his father, David, is a musician. McKee says his brothers and sisters have continued to pursue various artistic hobbies.
McKee was homeschooled through twelfth grade. He took advantage of available art classes when he could, particularly in grade school, but he found himself discouraged by his self-imposed pursuit of perfection. “It was all about me trying to make clean art where every line is in the right place, everything is where I planned for it to be,” he says. When he was ready to start taking college classes McKee says he did contemplate a career as an artist, but, in the end: “I went with my other passion, which was computer science, which is a little less poetic than working in art, but I enjoy that very much as well.”
Following his graduation in 2013 from Lehigh Carbon Community College with an associate degree in computer programming, McKee first joined a Lehigh Valley software company before moving on to a startup based in New Jersey that specialized in facility management software. In layman's terms, that's software that guides retail and restaurant chains in handling location repair and maintenance. The company has since grown exponentially and rebranded as Fexa. Over the years McKee has risen in the ranks to his current position, vice president of engineering.
At first blush, it may seem that artistic types and computer types don't have much in common. The former conjures up an image of someone in paint-speckled clothing, toiling away in a cluttered studio, while the latter may suggest a much more sterile, corporate environment, with the employee burning the midnight oil in front of the glow of a computer monitor. The right brain (imagination) versus left brain (logic) argument has been batted around by scientists for years. But McKee does find some parallels between his two passions. “The style of problem solving that goes into software development is creatively fulfilling in its own way,” he says.
Still, even though computers dominated his day job, he had no plans to pack away his paints for good. McKee felt comfortable returning to his art once his career was more firmly established. But he would approach this new chapter with a new style. About 10 years ago he had discovered the work of illustrator and designer Felix Scheinberger, author of Urban Watercolor Sketching, a how-to in blending pen and ink with watercolor to quickly and effectively capture a scene. McKee was also influenced by British artist Taria Dawson, creator of the website and blog Urban Sketching World, who has also authored The Beginner's Guide to Urban Sketching. Both stress techniques that aim to capture a mood or a feeling, rather than preaching a more pedantic style of photorealism. And for McKee, that attitude has been liberating. “I like for the character of my medium to inform the decisions I am making as I go,” he says. “I want it to be reactive. It's kind of like a give-and-take process between me and the paints.”
McKee opened a shop on Etsy (ConnorMcKeeArt) last year; he also shares his work on his Instagram page (@connormckee.art). His pen and watercolor paintings feel loose and spontaneous, with pops of intentional color that inform but do not overwhelm what's around them. Like the artists he admires in the urban sketching and watercolor movements, McKee gravitates toward landscapes and architecture. There are scenes from his travels abroad: London's Battersea Power Station and Beefeater Gin Distillery, as well as a depiction of low tide as seen from Southend-on-Sea in southeast England. But the majority of his paintings will be of interest—and instantly recognizable—to denizens of the Lehigh Valley. McKee delights in bringing some of his favorite local haunts to life on the paper in front of him. “I think there's something fun about observing and engaging with those spaces and choosing what parts of that reality to capture, what parts to accentuate in my own fantastical style,” he says.
In addition to the Myers building—which McKee refers to by an alternate name, Huff Music, based on a long-departed tenant whose faded name is still decipherable on the side—he's also painted interior scenes at Union and Finch and La Vida Café, both in Allentown, as well as Catasauqua's Blocker's Coffeehouse, Social Still Distillery in Bethlehem (a “quick and smudgy sketch,” he calls it), Nowhere Coffee Co. in Emmaus, and Easton Wine Project, among others.
McKee works on site whenever he can—all the better to capture the personality of the place. “Instead of painting an image, you're painting what it feels like to be there,” he explains. He also works quickly if he's inside a food or drink establishment; he's cognizant of not hogging precious real estate inside a business that depends on the comings and goings of paying customers. But it's not always a solo outing; friends can tag along and enjoy
a beer or a coffee while McKee rolls up his sleeves and gets to work. If he can't finish the painting in time, or a drying cycle is needed, he'll take it back to his studio inside his home in Bethlehem, which he shares with his wife, Vicki, and their two cats, Gibbs (short for Gibberish) and Disco.
Instead of painting an image, you're painting what it feels like to be there.
McKee is unsure whether a career as a full-time artist is something he'll pursue down the road. “I love the idea of it,” he says. But for now, he's happy that his hobby is becoming more than just a creative outlet; he's already been hired for several commissions. And he's happy that his handiwork can highlight some of the community hubs he loves. “The Lehigh Valley is so full of those restaurants and those small shops and they deserve to be celebrated,” says McKee.
Published as “Insight” in the June 2024 edition of Lehigh Valley Style magazine.
