Red Coffee Cup Collage

Red Coffee Cup by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Red Coffee Cup.” Collage on paper. 16″x12″
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I’ve decided to work on a coffee cup series as well as I get prepared for Art on the Avenue (in hopes that I’ll get into it). This is the first one I’ve completed and I’m currently working on another one.

Swan and Flower Collages

Here’s an update on the collages I’ve been creating this summer. I’m about to begin a coffee cup series as well, and once I finish the first piece I’ll post that as well.

Green Swan by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Swan Series – Green.” Collage on paper. 9″x12″
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Orange Swan by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Swan Series – Orange.” Collage on paper. 9″x12″
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Pastel Sawn by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Swan Series – Pastel.” Collage on paper. 9″x12″
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Purple Pansy by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Purple Pansy.” Collage on paper. 9″x12″
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Blue Pansy by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Blue Pansy.” Collage on paper. 9″x12″
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Warm Color Pansy by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Warm Color Pansy.” Collage on paper. 9″x12″
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Sunflower by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Sunflower.” Collage on paper. 12″x9″
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Senior Art Show

Samantha by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Samantha.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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April 30 – May 23, 2008
Belk Galleries; Elon University, North Carolina

Megan Coyle’s “Samantha” portrait collage was on display in Belk Galleries. The show was run by and exhibited the artwork of senior art students. A select few artists were chosen for this exhibition, where they displayed one or two pieces of their artwork. The show had work that ranged from representational to abstraction and included two-dimensional pieces as well as three-dimensional sculptures and ceramics.

Megan created her collage portrait, “Samantha,” specifically for this exhibition. It gave Megan a chance to continue exploring the human form after completing the portrait study for her senior thesis exhibition.

Senior Thesis Exhibition

This past Sunday was the opening reception for the first senior thesis exhibition. If you click here you can see the posting I did on our school’s website to advertise the exhibition. It will be open until April 30th, when the work will be taken down to make room for the other half of the seniors as they hold their exhibition. Here are pictures of all the artwork that was on display, along with the six framed collages of mine that I put up:

Senior Thesis Exhibition

"Bren" by collage artist Megan Coyle

April 20 – April 30, 2008
Elon Arts West Gallery; Elon University, North Carolina

From the beginning of the school year, senior art students met with a committee of professors to develop their ideas for their senior thesis exhibition. Megan worked on six collage portraits where she went through a process of intense editing for each one. This was Megan’s first cohesive body of collage work.

The senior exhibition featured the work of eleven artists who worked in a variety of media, including photography, ceramics, collage, and installation. The artists didn’t limit themselves to the media they studied—for instance, Megan was a painting major and she exhibited collages (although her collages have a heavy painting influence).

Megan Coyle’s senior thesis artwork was on display in Elon Arts West Gallery. Her thesis included the following collage portraits: “Benjamin,” “Jean,” “Bill,” “Bren,” “Scott,” and “Ali.” The exhibition lasted two weeks before it was taken down to make room for the second senior art exhibition.

The following was Megan’s artist statement for the exhibition:

I associate the people I’m close to with scenes in my mind, with memories and places that illustrate their personalities.  By bringing together the human form, and the associations that illustrate these people, a conversation is created between the work and its viewers.  The narratives form a story that others can imagine in their minds.  Each setting was made specifically for each sitter, relating to what kind of person he or she is.  For each portrait, the setting, shadows, everyday objects, and sitter’s expression, represents each figure’s personality as I see it.  The variations in the developed surface have reminded me of the complexities of the different planes and areas of muscles on the human face.  Thus collage works well in communicating the variety of forms and values seen when looking at people.

Samantha Collage

Samantha by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Samantha.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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I completed a collage of my roommate–I had to make a new one for an upcoming exhibition that a couple of students are holding in the library during our student research day. All I need to do now is get some better pictures of it, frame it, and then it’ll be ready to hang.

Senior Show Gallery Space

I went to check out the gallery space for the “All Senior Show,” which is located directly on campus in the Isabella Cannon Room. My senior thesis exhibition will be in the art department though, in a gallery that is a lot smaller than this one. Also, this week will involve a lot of intense matting for my senior thesis pieces. I’m officially graduating with an art degree, and now I just have to go through the hectic week before the opening reception. Here are a few pictures of the show:

All Senior Art Show

Figure in front of Window by collage artist Megan Coyle

April 11 – May 24, 2008
Isabella Cannon Room; Elon University, North Carolina

Megan Coyle’s “Figure in front of Window” collage was on display in Elon University’s Isabella Cannon Room for an all senior art show. She created this collage portrait specifically for the “All Senior Art Show.”

The art show gave senior art students a chance to showcase artwork that represented their entire body of work for that year. Megan created a series of six collage portraits for her senior thesis, where she went through an extensive process of editing each collage. For the “All Senior Art Show,” she wanted to display a piece of art that represented her collage process. “Figure in front of Window” does just that—the collage has a partially finished look which emphasizes the shape of the magazine cut-outs that have been glued down. The original paper that the magazine cut-outs are on shines through a bit, as well as parts of Megan’s underlying sketch that was done before she started collaging. The portrait shows the transition of moving from a rough sketch to a representational collage portrait.

All Senior Art Show

Figure in front of the Window by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Figure in front of the Window.” Collage on paper. 16″x12″
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This week one of my professors let all the seniors know that we have an “All Senior Art Show” coming up. We have to submit a work of art by next week. Also, the piece can’t be from our senior thesis…it can be an extension of our senior thesis or something else we’ve done this year. Unfortunately I took all my artwork back home a few weeks ago, so I had to decide whether or not to go home this weekend or make a new work of art. I decided to make a new work.

This is the finished collage that will be up–it’s supposed to be a self-portrait but it doesn’t look too much like me. I decided to do a “half-finished” piece, so that you can see a bit of the process involved with my collages. I’ll take pictures once it’s up in the gallery space.

Bill Collage

Bill by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Bill.” Collage on paper. 18″x24″
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…And I’m almost done with my series! The latest one is of my dad, and this will be my final piece for the series. His neck is a little funky at the moment, and there are areas on his face that I want to rework, but overall, I’m nearly finished. Then I’ll return to three other pieces, work on fixing them up, and then I’ll be done with my collage work during spring break. This senior thesis stuff has been a lot of work, but I’m proud of what I’ve created. These are, without a doubt, the strongest six pieces I’ve created thus far.