I’m really getting into exploring different angles with my people collages – before I was pretty attached to the basic portrait composition where I focused in on the face of the sitter. Here the background has a pretty strong role and the figures are much smaller.
And now I’m off for a day filled with errands while escaping my warm apartment (they haven’t turned the air-conditioning on yet).
I hope everyone had a happy weekend. I spent my Saturday gallery sitting at the Del Ray Artisans for their “What’s Your Bag?” exhibition. The show features artwork that depicts bags in our culture as well as art made from recycled bags. A lot of handmade bags were also included in the show.
Here’s the piece that I had hanging in the exhibition, “The Reader.” There’s a book bag resting on the ground next to the figure spread out on the park bench.
I thought I’d have a productive art-filled weekend, however I was feeling pretty sick and had to spend half my weekend either sleeping or laying in bed. I love keeping busy, so it was pretty difficult for me to force myself to rest up so I could recover. Now I’m feeling much better, and I’m glad I took it easy instead of working away.
April 2nd – 30th, 2010
Arlington Central Library; Arlington, Virginia
Map and Gallery Info
Two of Megan’s latest works, “Chow Time” and “The New York Diner,” were on display in Arlington Central Library’s “The Art of Food” exhibition. Both pieces will appear in two of her upcoming solo exhibitions.
“The Art of Food” was a juried exhibition that featured art that used food as a theme or aspect of the artwork, and explored the ideas of “you are what you eat,” what we eat, where/how we eat, who/what eats, the nature of food, where it comes from, how it sustains us/the land, and so on and so forth. Artists were encouraged to use recycled material in the creation of their artwork.
The show was held in conjunction with the Library’s annual Arlington Reads program. The book chosen for Arlington Reads 2010 was The Memory of Old Jack by Wendall Berry. Berry’s book is about the musings of an elderly farmer on the “truth and integrity of the land.” “The Art of Food” exhibition was inspired by the book and explored different ideas and views on food consumption.
April 2nd – 25th, 2010
Nicholas Colasanto Center; Alexandria, Virginia
Map and Gallery Info
One of Megan’s latest collages, “The Reader,” was on display in the Del Ray Artisans’ “What’s Your Bag?” exhibition.
“What’s Your Bag?” featured artwork by local artists that explored the theme of bags in our culture and everyday life. The show included works that depicted the bag in any form, including bags used for carrying food, taking work home, and travelling away from home.
The exhibition showcased artwork made from a variety of media, including paintings, drawings, and photographs. With images of backpacks, satchels, suitcases, and other bags used for everyday use, the show included interesting angles on a familiar subject matter.
And it’s finished (at the moment). Sometimes I like revisiting previous collages to do a little bit of editing/touching up here and there.
I’ve always liked penguins so naturally I wanted to squeeze one in to one of my people collages. I like how penguins look like miniature people in a way – and they always look so dressed up like they’re wearing suites.Although I like making portraits/people collages the best, I am looking forward to working on some animal collages for my show in August. It will be a nice way to change gears a bit. I’d also like to work more on still life and landscape work since I haven’t had much time these days to really delve into those areas.
It’s crazy how quickly this weekend is going by – and now I’m off to take care of a few errands before enjoying the nice weather.
Another day, another collage.
With this particular collage, I was interested in making the piece look like the viewer’s walked into the same room where the sitter is. Perhaps they interrupted them while they were in the middle of a book? I like making narrative scenes, partially because they’re fun to make, mainly because different viewers can come up with so many different storylines or ideas of what’s going on in a scene.
Anyway, this week I’m going to try to finish another figurative piece and hopefully get started on a few more mini collages.
A few days ago I gallery sat for the DRA’s “Women in Art: Body of Work” exhibition. I took a few pictures of the show as well as some images of my work on the wall.
My collages, “The New York Diner” and “Jean,” framed and hanging on the gallery walls. “The New York Diner” was made for an upcoming solo exhibit that I’m having in May and “Jean” is a piece I finished in ’08 for my senior thesis exhibition.
The exhibit had quite a variety of artwork, with metal sculptures, photographs, paintings, drawings, and mixed media pieces. I always like seeing the range in artwork hanging in themed exhibitions – it’s interesting how different artists approach the same subject matter with a different style, idea, and medium.
March 5th – 21st, 2010
Nicholas Colasanto Center; Alexandria, Virginia
Map and Gallery Info
One of Megan’s older pieces, “Jean,” as well as a newly finished figurative collage, “The New York Diner,” were on display in the Nicholas Colasanto Center’s “Women in Art: Body of Work Exhibition.”
“Jean” was a collage that was created in 2008 for Megan’s senior thesis exhibition at Elon University.
The “Women in Art: Body of Work” show featured the artwork of local artists who tackled the theme of women in art. The exhibition was presented by the Del Ray artisans and the Divas of Decoupage.
Here are a few images of the exhibit I installed the other day (there’s a bit of a glare from the lighting):
All of the work, with the exception of one of the smaller pieces, are collages that were completed either several years ago or a couple of years ago. I wanted to showcase the work that’s led up to the direction I’m moving in now, where I’m exploring different ways of depicting the figure. I’m not just doing portrait pieces where the sitter sits prominently in the center of the composition, but collages from all angles.
Looking back at the work I’ve created over the past couple of years makes me want to start experimenting more with trying to find different ways to develop my style. I think spending a few minutes every day brainstorming could be pretty helpful.
And it’s finished – another cafe/restaurant portrait with a yellow background:
This afternoon I installed my show at Arlington Central Library’s East Gallery space. I’ll post a few pictures of the exhibit when I upload the pictures from my camera. Luckily I didn’t need to nail holes in the wall when installing this show – which is always a challenge for me. I typically find myself trying to cover up mistakes I’ve made from hammering by hiding holes in the wall with the frames of the hanging artwork. So it was nice that the library used metal rods for their artwork which made the installation fairly easy and straight forward to do.I also received a pleasant surprise today – a letter from the Washington Art Association regarding the portfolio I submitted to them for a work on paper show. They’re interested in the piece I did, “The Commuters,” and would like to see a series of work that looks like that particular collage. So it was nice not to receive a generic rejection letter – and instead receive a somewhat lengthy letter wanting me to resubmit more work.
Anyway, I’m off to do some late night studio work. I hope everyone had a happy first day of March! (and Monday too of course)