Megan Coyle | Megan Coyle: Artist & Illustrator

July 7, 2012June 15, 2024

Animals in Paper

Fine Dining for Pandas by collage artist Megan Coyle

July 7th – September 29th, 2012
Beatley Alexandria City Gallery; Alexandria, Virginia
Map and Gallery Info

Megan Coyle’s work was on display in a solo show at the Beatley Alexandria City Gallery. The Alexandria City Gallery Program exhibits the artwork of local artists in fifteen city galleries.

As a child, Coyle was always drawn to animals and colorful illustrations. Growing up in the D.C. area made it easy for her to visit the Smithsonian museums. She especially enjoyed visiting the animals at the zoo and seeing the animal exhibits at the Natural History Museum. Coyle continues to visit those places, but now she does it to study and gather inspiration for future works of art.

“Animals in Paper” featured several of Coyle’s new animal collages alongside a few older works of art. Her newer pieces included several 18″x24″ animal collages depicting species that didn’t appear in her previous work. The artwork explored the colorful diversity of animals in nature – with mammals, reptiles, and birds.

Inspired by color and the unique characteristics of different species, Coyle has created familiar images of animals big and small. All the collages were constructed entirely from magazine strips using a technique she calls “painting with paper.” If you were able to stop by for a visit, you could get a closer look at all the layers used for these paper creations.

July 6, 2012June 16, 2024

Urban Sunsets

Here’s the first collage I’ve done for my new scapes series. I’m planning to create twenty new collages in all, which will be inspired by D.C./Northern Virginia area sights. Once the series is complete, I’ll display the work in an exhibit next year.

“Urban Sunsets” is inspired by D.C. sunsets, with an office-building skyline. More scenes to come soon…

July 1, 2012January 29, 2017

Made from Magazines Exhibit

Today I installed my exhibit over at Shirlington Library – “Made from Magazines.” It features ten of my animal collages and includes some of my newer work alongside older pieces.

When you first walk in, you see these two pieces hanging above a table with books propped upright.

I like how the space includes white and red walls. It’s a nice contrast.

This piece is close to the front window.

Anyway, I’m off to get prepared for a couple more exhibits that I have coming up. I have another installation going on next weekend. Whew – busy, busy!

July 1, 2012June 16, 2024

Made from Magazines

Watchful Lion by collage artist Megan Coyle — “Watchful Lion.” Collage on paper. 16″x12″
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July 1st – 28th, 2012
Shirlington Library Gallery; Arlington, Virginia
Map and Gallery Info

This solo show featured several of Coyle’s recently completed animal collages. The exhibit explored a variety of species meticulously constructed from bits and pieces of magazine pages. The work showcases how recycled materials can be used to make intricate works of art.

The animal collages were inspired by zoos around the U.S., especially the National Zoo in D.C., as well as museums like the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum.

Shirlington Library has a modern look and feel to it, which made it the perfect venue for Coyle’s unusual collage art. The gallery is part of an arts program that brings local artists’ artwork into public city spaces.

June 29, 2012January 29, 2017

Bosty goes to Chicago

Bosty decided to spend his summer vacation in the windy city – Chicago. He was really excited to see Frank Gehry’s Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. He’s so cultured.

Then he had to stop by the “bean” because he thought it sounded tasty. He was disappointed to see that it wasn’t a real, edible bean.

He spent the afternoon wandering through Millennium Park dog watching and people watching, while admiring some of the park’s sculptures.

For dinner he had to stop by Giordanos for some deep dish pizza.

He even had some leftovers that he boxed up and had for a late night snack and breakfast the next day.

Up next? A visit to the impressive Art Institute of Chicago.

Bosty liked the modern wing – he’s a big fan of the architecture.

He also visited the special exhibit on Roy Lichtenstein. Bosty loves comics so he’s a big fan of Lichtenstein’s style.

Here’s one of his favorites in the exhibit – I think he just liked it because he could recognize Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.

He was pretty excited to see Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks in person.

That night Bosty decided to live it up and do some fine dining at the famous Charlie Trotter’s restaurant. He heard it was closing soon, so he wanted to make sure he had a fancy multiple course meal there.

The next day he wanted to check out the view of the city from the Sky Deck at the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower).

After pushing through a lot of tourists at the top, he was able to get a few snapshots of himself in front of the view.

Next we wandered around the city – it was such a beautiful, sunny day. Bosty got excited when he saw this parade float drive by – such colorful seahorses!

Here he is posing for another one of his tourist snapshots.

Later we stumbled upon the Buckingham Fountain – Bosty was very tempted to swim in the water. After all, it was an unusually hot summer day.

The word hot reminds me of…hot dogs! We stopped by Hot Doug’s for lunch.

After waiting in line for about an hour, Bosty tried not to be a piggy while eating several Chicago style hot dogs (he worked up quite an appetite).

We ended our visit with a stroll through the city at night.

June 18, 2012June 16, 2024

Scarlet Macaw

And the collage is complete! Next up? A landscape/cityscape series inspired by scenes around DC and neighboring areas. My goal is to complete one collage each week so I’ll be able to finish a new body of work in time for a solo show in February 2013. I’ve got quite a bit of collaging ahead of me…

June 14, 2012June 16, 2024

Red Ruffed Lemur

Lemurs are such unusual critters. I just love their eyes – they always look somewhat cartoonish. And I had a lot of fun putting this piece together.

Lately, a lot of my animal collages have been in the larger size I work in – 18″x24.” I decided that I really needed to create a series of bigger animal collages. It helps if you have a variety of sizes to pull from when working on an inventory for an upcoming exhibit.

June 9, 2012June 16, 2024

Turtle that thinks she’s a Giraffe

Here’s the finished collage! I really enjoyed collaging her shell – I used quite a mix of texture for it. And with the background I wanted to make it look somewhat abstract and out of focus so that you could hone in more on the actual turtle.

June 1, 2012June 6, 2024

Recycled Art Show

Tree Baby (Firefox) by collage artist Megan Coyle — “Tree Baby (Firefox).” Collage on paper. 16″x12″
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June 1st – 30th, 2012
Arlington Central Library Gallery; Arlington, Virginia
Map and Gallery Info

Coyle’s “Tree Baby” and “Autumn Afternoons” collages were on display in Arlington Library’s “Recycled Art Show” group exhibit. The show featured artwork by local artists and each work of art was comprised of at least 50% recycled material.

This was Coyle’s second group exhibit at Arlington Library – she previously displayed her work in “The Art of Food” exhibit. She has also had two solo shows there, “Collaging the Figure” and “Select Works from Duck & Fish.”

Since her work is constructed entirely from magazine strips, it was a perfect fit for the show’s theme.