Year: 2010 | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

June 13, 2010June 14, 2024

Polar Bear

I’ve been working away on several more animal collages at the studio. I’ll bring them back home one of these days so I can take pictures and post them.

Yesterday was my first Saturday working at the studio. It was pretty exciting how busy the art center was and I received a lot of business from the visitors. During the week, things are much slower in comparison with the weekend. I’m also in the process of ordering more magnets – I’ll have to work away with making a lot more of them for the upcoming week.

In other news, last night Scene Gallery had an opening for the “Local Scene” exhibit. It was a pleasant gathering and the art looked great in the space.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great weekend! I think I’ll go ahead and take care of a few errands before heading off to the studio.

June 10, 2010January 29, 2017

Studio Update

Since posting my last pictures of the studio where I’m currently working for June and July, I’ve moved a few things around to help with presentation. Before, the pedestals were pushed up against the wall. When I did this, I had trouble getting visitors to notice my work. By pulling out the pedestals, and forcing visitors to walk around them, my work became much more noticeable. I also had the problem of visitors thinking my work was painting, thus not really paying close attention to it. In the image above you can see that I cut out paper letters and taped them to the wall – the set on the side includes my logo as well as the words “Collage Artist.”

I also cut out letters to make up “painting with paper.”

Here’s a view that shows a little of the other side of the studio. I’m competing for attention with these sculpture pieces.

Here are my marketing materials – postcards, business cards, and brochures – you can see them right when you walk in the door. That book I have propped up on a mini easel is the book I put together with Blurb. I think Blurb is pretty useful – I was really satisfied with the quality.

And now I have note cards for sale along with my handmade magnets.

Well anyway, I’m off to take care of a few errands before heading off to the studio for just about the entire day.

June 9, 2010June 14, 2024

Dinner for Two

And it’s done! I thought about adding more to the background, but when it came down to it, I decided that a simpler background could draw more attention to the couple.

In other news, I’m feeling a great deal better. Slept for a good chunk of time yesterday, and I suppose my body has a tendency of feeling weary and sick as a way to tell me to slow down and take better care of myself.

These next few days are going to be busy ones. I’m pleased to say that all my figurative pieces are complete for my exhibitions scheduled for this year. Next on my list is to finish about ten or more animal collages for a show in August and about eight landscape/cityscape pieces for a show in September. To add to the workload, I also need to get started on planning out my next artist talk for my solo show in July as well as a lecture on blogging for artists that I’ll be giving in mid July.

June 7, 2010December 6, 2017

Character Study

This is a collaboration I worked on with my brother. I did the concept drawing, he took the sketch and modeled/uv unwrapped it, I collaged the uv flats, and he put it together for the final look. I think the next step is that we’ll start working on a background for this little guy.

Birdy by collage artist Megan Coyle

Here’s the concept sketch I did

Birdy model by Brendan Coyle

And my brother’s interpretation of the sketch with a 3d model. Next I collaged the uv flats which he took and was able to use to put together the clip that you saw at the top.

Once I get a spare moment, I’d like to work on my own 2d animation piece. Also, that children’s book has been in my backlog of things “to do” for quite a while now. Hopefully I can get started on that as well in the near future.

June 4, 2010June 14, 2024

"Local Scene" Exhibit at Scene Gallery

Above is one of the flyers Scene Gallery is using to promote their “Local Scene” exhibit that opens tomorrow. You’ll notice that it features my scape collage, “The Washington Monument,” and if you click on the flyer image, you can see a larger version of it.

I was invited by Scene Gallery to participate in this group exhibition which features the work of local artists. The exhibit is showcasing artwork depicting sights of the Washington, D.C. area. Aside from my “Washington Monument” collage, the show also features my “Lincoln Memorial,” “Masonic Temple,” and “Torpedo Factory.”

I’m excited to participate in this show. Scene Gallery is a fairly new gallery – it opened not even a year ago at National Harbor in Maryland. The opening is on Saturday, June 12th from 6 – 9p.m. I’m looking forward to spending the day in the studio at the Torpedo Factory before heading on over to National Harbor for the reception.

June 4, 2010June 14, 2024

Local Scene

The Lincoln Memorial by Megan Coyle — “The Lincoln Memorial.” Collage on mat board. 5″x7″
Order a print

June 4th – July 20th, 2010
Scene Gallery; National Harbor, Maryland
Map and Gallery Info

Opening Reception: June 12th, 6 – 9 p.m.

Megan was invited to display her work in a group exhibition at Scene Gallery located on National Harbor. Four of her ‘scapes collages were on display, “Lincoln Memorial,” “Washington Monument,” “Torpedo Factory,” and “The Masonic Temple.

The exhibition, “Local Scene,” featured artwork depicting scenes around the Washington, D.C. area. It showcased the artwork of local artists.

June 1, 2010June 14, 2024

King of the Jungle

Here’s the completed version of “King of the Jungle.” I’m realizing that as opportunities present themselves, I’m working away trying to make sure I can meet all the deadlines. Looks like I might have a couple more exhibitions to start preparing for. Goodness, apparently I don’t have enough on my plate already.

I’m really enjoying my time as a Visiting Artist and I’ve only just begun. I enjoy interacting with the public and seeing which pieces visitors respond to more. When I’m busy working away in my apartment, I don’t have a live audience and I rely entirely on what I think of a piece. It’s nice getting a feel for what others think.

Every time Ben has walked into my studio, he’s given me more great ideas on what I can do to make it more intriguing for visitors to come inside. I’m in the middle of working on a few adjustments for my set-up. Soon I plan to take a few pictures of the new layout so I can post them for you all to see.

I hope you’re having a great week – time sure does fly when you’re busy and having fun!

June 1, 2010February 18, 2017

Visiting Artist at the Torpedo Factory Art Center

Collage artist Megan Coyle as a Visiting Artist

This weekend I moved into my new studio for June and July at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Old Town, Alexandria. The artist whose studio I’m taking over let me move in a couple days early. She’s a sculptor and she cleared half of her studio space so I can hang up my art and sell my work. It’s been a lot of fun thus far – extremely different than what I’m used to with working alone in my apartment. If you’re in the area, you should drop by – I’ve posted a schedule for the days that I’ll definitely be in the studio during my residency.

Here’s a picture of the space before installing my work. My parents were a big help with moving everything to the studio and installing the framed art.

The work installed in the studio. You’ll notice that I put smaller pieces on pedestals. By moving them out more in the middle of the space, people could see them better when they were walking by my doorway. The artist who owns the studio makes large sculptures so I’m competing for attention with these larger works. We’ll see what I shall do to make my side more fun and interesting to lure people in.

Along with my artwork, I’m also selling handmade magnets with images of my art – they’ve been pretty popular!

Collage artist Megan Coyle as a Visiting Artist

Here’s my work space – it’s at the back of the room. I think I should move it more towards the front so people can see what I’m working on. Many times the visitors don’t even realize that my work is collage until they read the labels on the wall. I want to make it even more obvious by working in a more noticeable area – not hidden behind cabinets.Well I hope everyone had a great weekend!

May 29, 2010January 29, 2017

Piece by Piece: Figurative Collage Reception Photos

Piece by Piece Figurative Collage by Megan Coyle

Aside from posting the video of my reception, I thought I’d add a few pictures from the event. The one above is an action shot of my artist talk.

The audience during the talk.

Yet another angle.

I realized that, gasp, I hadn’t shown any images of the food during the show. The day before, as well as the morning of the reception, we were hard at work putting together a few platters. The one above is the cheese platter.

This is an unfinished platter that had a mix of food – tortellini, tomatoes with a salmon spread inside of them, and a goat cheese spread on some veggies.

The fruit platter minus the yogurt dip that we put in the center.

And the veggie platter minus the dip in the center. We also had a dessert platter and a few other items that I didn’t photograph while I was working in the kitchen. It was quite the experience planning everything for this show – from PR to planning the menu, I was grateful for every bit of help I received.

So one solo opening down, one more (at the moment) to go. And later today I get to go to work at my temporary studio after I move in. I can’t wait!

May 26, 2010January 29, 2017

Fisher Gallery Reception Video

My brother, Brendan Coyle, put together a video of the reception for my solo show “Piece by Piece: Figurative Collage” at the Fisher Gallery. Here you can get a good idea of what the show looked like when you walked into the gallery. The exhibit features sixteen of my collages created this year.