2011: Year in Review

During the last week of each year, I try to do a year in review blog to condense and summarize my life as an artist. I do this mostly for me, so that I can look back and remember the ups and downs of the past year. As it is happening it is so easy to forget what we are living through and I find taking the time to look back and reflect illuminating. It also helps me to get excited about the year to come.

So, here goes! And once again, if you actually read this post through to the end, you deserve some type of gold star or medallion.

2011 started with my largest commission request to date. I painted a 7x5.5 foot painting for the entry way of a private residence. It was an interesting experience. I remember it was a bit of a struggle, simply from the physicality of the painting size itself, as I am only 5ft 2". Also, the clients wanted a painting that spoke of my earlier color works, specifically the painting called Olivine from 2007, that had always been one of my favorite paintings. It took a while, but we finally got there and the client was ultimately pleased.

At the same time I was working on my commission, I started a new series on paper, called Maps of the Night. I remember the excitement that propelled me through that series combining words and charcoal on crinkly paper. It was the beginning of my documentation of the new relationship in my life with fellow artist Stewart Bremner from Scotland. The Maps of the Night were a way to feel closer to Stewart as he was asleep across the ocean six hours ahead. I remember feeling nervous about this process, as I shared my excitement of this very new long distance romance in a cryptic manner, through the one liners that floated across the drawn page. I remember many long nights painting this series and I remember feeling so pleased when the series was a sell out. I took a risk and was richly rewarded. There were twenty paintings in this series.

I was also very busy working within the Fayetteville Underground. If you want to read a summary of what I did as Co-Artistic Director at the Fayetteville Underground, you can click here.

After the commission was completed and the Maps of the Night had all found their homes I began the Flashcard series. Works on paper were a big part of my year, it is often an affordable medium and if you know me, you also know that I feel strongly about the power of original art and that I believe everyone should be able to afford it. I created twenty-nine of these miniature works and this series sold out as well.

While these works on paper were selling, my older color works and paintings from last year's series Falling Into Sound were selling as well. I met a lot of wonderful people in 2011, new friendships, new collectors, and new fellow artists all came into my life to make it richer and better. 

While this blog is based on my artistic life, I have to mention Stewart Bremner's first visit to Fayetteville in April and his exhibition Iteration/Span with Craig Munro in May at the Hive Gallery. We scheduled that show long before Stewart and I were in a relationship and I am so glad we did. It served as the extra impetus perhaps for him to get on a plane to come over here and for us to meet for the first time. A very magical moment. Stewart has been a huge inspiration for my work this year and a huge source of happiness. We also created nine paintings together side by side in my little studio in the basement of the underground. The series became known as A Question of Chemistry and by the end of it there was no question. After a few initial stumbling blocks, we managed to create a meaningful and cohesive body of work. It was a thrill to work with Stewart and we were both pleased by the attention the work received.

While Stewart was here, the title for my next series Sometimes I love you and other stories was born. I had the title and the concept before I had started the work. I remember starting to paint alone again after working with Stewart was more difficult than I had anticipated. My thoughts from this time as quoted in my blog, "this body of work seems like it is going to be a stretch, a bit like pulling teeth with a heavy dose of trepidation but also unbridled excitement and inspiration." That pretty much sums of the experience of putting my heart on the line and on display for everyone to read and see. I created twenty-two paintings in this series for my exhibition in September in the Vault Gallery at the Underground.

As I was painting the Sometimes series, I was also creating another small paper series as I explored my ideas for working my own typed words into the paintings. This series consisted of ten pieces called Letters never sent. This series sold out as well.

While all this was happening, I went through a divorce and learned that the artists had lost the lease at the Fayetteville Underground and that we would have to move out in January. It was a lot to take in and handle, and truthfully I am not sure if I really handled it or just put it aside while I focused on what I could control, which was my work. I am very lucky to have such a good and solid support network of friends.

Sometimes I love you and other stories debuted in September and Stewart returned to Fayetteville as well. He designed a brilliant postcard for my show, updated my website and created a promotional video that I adore. It was a wonderful time and I sold nine pieces during my exhibition. Also two of these paintings were selected for publication in CALYX journal. CALYX has been publishing a high-quality journal of art and literature by women since it was founded in 1976.

Sometimes I love you and other stories from stewart bremner on Vimeo.

In December four of my Sometimes I love you and other other stories works are shown in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of the Winter Wonderland exhibition at the UNION gallery. I love that the works are shown next to Stewart's on the gallery wall across the ocean which seemed fitting. I am even more thrilled when my works are written about in this article.

Also in December, I had my first solo exhibition after three years at the Blue Moon Gallery in Hot Springs, Arkansas. They have represented my work since 2004. The exhibition was called, A certain trajectory and was a combination of Falling into Sound and Sometimes I love you works. It was well received and I enjoyed being at the gallery for the opening.

I returned home and realized that I needed to make some more small works for the holidays and I updated my etsy shop artmaven with a new series called, Silently and still. I enjoyed working in my old attic studio as I reflected on my time at the Underground. I participated in my first Cyber Monday sale on Etsy and it went well. I also had a sale of my older color works and many collectors snapped them up at a steal of a deal. While this was happening, my etsy work was being featured consistently in many treasuries.

While I created the last series of the year, Silently and Still,  I started thinking about creating small works in Scotland with limited supplies and space. Soon after, I book my ticket for my trip in January! I am very excited about my upcoming adventure and the opportunities that will come with it. I will be showing new small works that I create in the new year at a cafe that shows art in Edinburgh. The idea of this makes me happy and feels right.

As I let go of my studio and my experiences at the Fayetteville Underground, my exhibition schedule starts filling up for 2012, and I move forward on the path.

2011 concluded with one hundred and nine paintings created and one hundred and ten new and old paintings sold. I am amazed, proud, grateful and very ready to start working on the next series on a different continent.

Thank you to everyone who has had a kind word for me this year or a hug, a smile, an email. Thanks to my supporters and patrons, my gallery owners, my studio mates, special thanks to Jennifer L. Fay for her love and support and for a lot of paper! Thanks to Stewart Bremner for all the music, for inspiring me daily and for doing the impossible. x.

Until next week and next year, keep fighting. The world needs your art!

Ready to start...

Where we meet © 2011 Megan Chapman

This is where one story ends and another begins... I thought I would be writing my year in review blog today, but I was reminded that I still have until next week to do that. So today I will take the time to mention the future.

Soon I will take my first solo trip in a plane and I will take my first trip overseas. I will be going to Scotland on January 10th- May 3rd. I am very excited! I am looking forward to leaving my town and getting some perspective on the world and my place in it. I am looking forward to seeing new things and meeting new people. I am looking forward to the inspiration and the freedom that shooting through the sky will allow. Like time travel, landing in a new place where everything is similar yet different and where I can regroup and become whole again. This has been an exceptional year but it has also been extremely taxing and exhausting. I am hoping to slip through this portal to a kind of renewal.

 I don't think I will return the same person. In fact I know I won't. I am not the same person I was a year ago. I have grown a lot as a person and as an artist through taking calculated risks and by being vulnerable and surrounded by love. I am sure this trip will provide me many opportunities to continue on this path.

Once in Scotland, I am really looking forward to seeing my work on the UNION gallery walls, in their current exhibition Winter Wonderland. As many of you know, I have four pieces from my "Sometimes I love you and other stories" series currently at the gallery in Edinburgh and I have only seen pictures of them. It will be surreal to walk into the gallery and stand before them, there on the wall. I was thrilled when my work was recently mentioned in a review of the exhibition. You can read it here. I was already so pleased to be showing at the gallery but to have my work chosen and written about is an extra special thrill. Validation from an objective source and from someone in another country feels important. I want to remember this moment.

In other happy news,  I just found out that I will have an exhibition of some of my new small works on paper in Edinburgh in February and/or March at a local popular cafe. I am grateful to have this opportunity as it will help me have a focus for my work while I am there. This was one reason for my recent collection of small etsy paintings, I wanted to imagine working in a small space and with simplified materials. I will of course let folks know about the work and the exhibition as it happens. Just stay tuned to my blog to stay in the know.

My exhibition schedule is shaping up for 2012.

February/March: I thought I would find you here, a joint exhibition by Megan Chapman and Stewart Bremner,  Northwest Arkansas Community College, Bentonville, Arkansas.  This exhibition will showcase several of Stewart's individual paintings and mine, teamed with the remaining Question of Chemistry series paintings that we created last May.

February/March: Selected small works on paper by Megan Chapman, Embo, Edinburgh. These will be all new paper works created in Scotland.

July: All new combined paintings by Megan Chapman and Stewart Bremner, Art Center of the Ozarks, Springdale Arkansas. We are very excited to pick up where we left off and create all new works for this exhibition. When we return to Arkansas in May we will get busy painting in the heat of the summer.

I have also submitted my work to a couple of juried exhibitions, I will let you know if I get in any of them and how they impact my schedule in the coming months.

So the future seems bright with travel, love, culture, art and exhibitions. I am also hoping for renewal, big ideas and of course lots of music.

I just want to say thank you again to all my friends, family, art supporters and patrons. I love sharing this journey with you and the support and validation you give me and my work is unparalleled. You have helped me discover my truth, face my fears and live this live. You have been the smiles, the helping hands, the financial support, and the open hearts that I needed this year. You have been the ones I have worked for.  

Thank you.

Ungrounded

 

The studios at the Underground are coming apart at the seams, the brushes, canvases and easels are being packed away. Tables moved and disassembled, the spaces we came to know as the studios of our peers are not the same. They are becoming the empty basement office spaces that they once were. The mark we left on One East Center is being erased as the artists pack up their studios just before the holidays.

I can say "when one door closes another one opens" and I can hope it is true. I can put a positive spin on it in the news and say we will be back in January in a new space, bringing you the same great art and artists that you have come expect from us for over the past two and a half years. But I honestly can't be sure. Where is the group of artists that became known as the Fayetteville Underground going? Where is the door that is about to open? I don't know. There are options, there are dreams, and there is reality.

Many of us worked very hard to bring the city something that the citizens and the artists seemed to want, need and appreciate and I am truly saddened that it was cut short by no fault of the artists or our landlord. It was an amazing run and I have never been more proud to be affiliated with an organization.

Who knows what will happen with the artists of the underground. Many will move back home to their abandoned extra bedrooms, attics and basement studios because it is easier than not knowing where they are going, and it is a way for them to control their own destiny. A few will stick together and continue trying to build the Fayetteville Art Alliance, trying to find studios together and manning a gallery, perhaps recruiting new artists into the fold and attempting new strategies. Some will just take a break and stop producing art for a while or perhaps look for gallery representation elsewhere. Perhaps there is space for some in the Old Post Office basement. As artists we may fragment and splinter yet there will be a tie that connects us, our time at the Fayetteville Underground.

The Fayetteville Underground taught me so much about people and it helped me become fully invested in my community. Working with many other organizations and groups was exciting and beneficial for all involved. Getting to know so many of the artists throughout the community was wonderful as well. I met people just like me who worked hard to create the work they needed to, in order to be true to themselves. Many amazing artists passed through the gallery doors of the Fayetteville Underground during these years. It was an honor to meet and get to know not only their work but them personally. We shared a lot of ups and downs together as a family, such as illnesses, separations, divorce, money troubles, depression, anxiety, artistic blows, blocks, and more than a few parking tickets! We also shared new love, special commissions, big sales, artistic triumphs, new visions and opportunities, inspiration and many bottles of beer, glasses of wine, and good meals in the restaurants and bars around the square.

I can't stand to see my artistic family fragmented. It is sad to see us come ungrounded and lose the vision that we as a team so brilliantly executed for so long. If I am willing to dream big, I hope we rise to this challenge and create something new, perhaps something never seen here before. Something perfect for this sweet town of art lovers and buyers. Studios on one side of town and a gallery on the other? Pop up shops in abandoned buildings? Take over a motel and turn it into a gallery for a week? Take the basement of the Old Post Office by storm creating a new hot spot? Retreating to the calm of Mt. Sequoyah and hoping that the patrons will follow?

I love these big plans and big dreams. One of my big dreams came true when I rented my studio at the Underground in April of 2009.

From my Journal:  

Monday 20 April 2009: Studio 19  
I have just returned from the leasing agent's office and I now have a key to my very own studio space downtown. I can't wait to move in and paint. This is so much more than just a key to me...
 
I guess it is time to wake up now. I have some boxes to pack and a studio door to close one last time and soon.

Are we having fun yet?

Winter Wonderland at Union Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland

December 8th-January 24th.

I love my job and I rarely complain about it as I feel I am truly privileged to do the work I am on the planet to do, the work I have trained for, and the work that I love to share with the world. However there are various negative stereotypes and ideas about artists that get in my way and clutter the path I walk. I have been thinking about these and thought it warranted a discussion.

1. Being an artist must be fun! It must be just great to lock yourself away from the world and play!

I hear this a lot from folks after I tell them what I do. Most of them mean well and most of them hope that my job is fun, because perhaps theirs is not. I understand. We all would like to be having fun more often than not. However, if I came up to you and said, "Wow! You are an account executive? That must be fun! A surgeon? Fun! A mail carrier? Even more fun!" You might get a little huffy... Not at the suggestion of fun per say but the idea that your job is easy, child like, simple, or less than.

You might think that I am taking people's comments too seriously or that I am being defensive. But imagine if you had studied for years, spending time and money to work up the ranks in your profession year after year and then over and over again you are dealt this patronizing comment. I'm not playing.

I think this comment comes from this dreamy and ignorant idea of the artist, the person who either has a trust fund enabling them to frivolously play at being an artist or the idea of the overly emotional sensitive soul that just can't quite make in the real world so they called themselves an artist and now they are safely ensconced in their attic studio with their only true friends, their paints and brushes.

Being an artist is working a job like anyone else. Being an artist is a legitimate career. As an artist you produce, promote and sell your work. Sure it can be fun at times, but it can be equally hard and unsatisfactory like any job.

2. Artists only use one part of their brain, you know that zany art part!

I hear this again and again in varying and worrisome terms, this idea is so wide spread that artists actually start to believe it themselves and perpetuate the myth. Making art is a huge part of my life, but being a successful artist means I also have to use a whole other set of skills. I am my own secretary, publicist, marketer, sales person, accountant, shipper, and the list goes on and on. I am an independent business owner as an artist and I have to use a business mind to make sure that I succeed. I have to keep an eye on the market, I have to network and stay connected to my patrons, just like any other small business owner.

I have had many intelligent conversations on the subject of the business of marketing ones art. People often act surprised that I can carry my weight on these subjects or that I even make it on time to the meeting (you know how flaky artists can be about time). Again, this is just another stereotype that needs to be put in its place.

I love my job and I hope you love yours too. Just try to remember I am showing up and working just like you and that I am using my whole brain while I do it. Artists are multidimensional people that work insanely hard at what they do, at least the successful ones.

If you want to compliment an artist, offer them your validation, tell them how hard you know it is and tell them not to give up. Tell them that you value their work and you appreciate what they offer to the community. You are likely to have a much richer conversation with that artist and you will have made their night.

To be seen for what we are and to be appreciated for what we make and bring to our communities and world through our art is what we are striving for.

************

As promised we have a winner! Randomly selected.... Sharon Simmons!!! Congratulations- You will receive this miniature paper painting from my etsy shop!

A change in the atmosphere

© 2011 Megan Chapman

When I look into the future (I see this)

 

Sure of It, mixed media, 30x30cm £270 © 2011 Megan Chapman 

Currently available through UNION gallery

Hello Blog Readers!

I was in Hot Springs last Friday (hence my post being late) for my opening for A Certain Trajectory at the Blue Moon Gallery. The turnout was lovely. I really enjoyed being back down at the gallery for the first time in several years. It was wonderful to see my friends and fellow artists down there as well as talk to all the art lovers out for gallery walk! My exhibition is up through the month so if you are passing though the Hot Springs area please don't miss it. There are several affordable pieces still available.

I am so thrilled to be a part of the Winter Wonderland exhibition at UNION gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. Four of my recent paintings from my Sometimes I love you and other stories series will be included in this exhibition. The opening is tomorrow night, December 8th so if you are Edinburgh please go! Stewart Bremner has six pieces showing there as well. I can't wait to see a photographs of the exhibition! That will make it even more real for me. It truly is a highlight of my career as an artist.

From UNION gallery's website, "A wonderful, mixed exhibition of work from some of the gallery’s regular exhibitors, including new work from award-winning artists Colin Brown and Audrey Grant, Janet Melrose RSW and Trevor Jones. We are also delighted to be exhibiting work from the nomadic painter Tadeusz Deregowski along with Olivia Irvine, Stewart Bremner and, new to the gallery, American artist Megan Chapman." Winter Wonderland: 8 December 2011 - 24 January 2012

In other news, Stewart and I have another combined exhibition scheduled for which we will create all new paintings! We are very excited about this opportunity. There is so much to do before all that, but it is exciting to have it in the back of our minds, we look forward to the challenge!

I am still having my half off holiday sale of my older color works, please contact me if you would like more information on any of the pieces you see here. I also have some affordable small works on paper available in my Etsy shop ArtMaven.

I think that is about all I have to report. Thank you for reading my blog, checking in on facebook, twitter and for coming to my shows. You make my path so much brighter.

Holiday Giveaway Alert! Leave a comment on today's entry and be entered to win a small piece of my art! I will randomly draw a winner and announce it on Friday, December 9th!

Moving forward through art...

 

a perfect day, mixed media on paper,  5x7" © 2011 Megan Chapman

Happy Black Friday or Buy Nothing Day or just regular old Friday! Here I am with my weekly installment of what is going on in my art world. Let's see... 

Last week fellow artist Jennifer Libby Fay and I drove down to Hot Springs to deliver my exhibition, A Certain Trajectory to the Blue Moon Gallery. My exhibition will open on December 2nd on First Friday gallery walk from 5-9pm. I hope all my friends and supporters from Hot Springs and Little Rock will pop in and say hello. It has been a long time since I have been at the gallery for a First Friday and I am looking forward to it.

Here is the press blurb for my upcoming exhibition:

Megan Chapman will be returning after three years for a solo exhibition at the Blue Moon Gallery in December. A Certain Trajectory contains paintings from two of her most recent bodies of work. Previously, Chapman was known for her richly-colored mixed media paintings. However, in these pieces she began the transition into more minimalist work, featuring a near monochromatic palette comprised of various tones of dark charcoal, translucent shades of blue, yellow, rust, and the occasional flash of green. Several pieces in this exhibition contain the artist's own words typed on paper torn from old books and give the viewer the sense of reading pages out of a diary or letters to a distant lover. 

In other news, the day before my exhibition, on December 1st it will be our last First Thursday as the Fayetteville Underground and at the location that has been our home for over two and a half years. I am sure it will be a bittersweet evening; I don't think I have really made sense of it all yet. All I know is that the artists will be having lots of special deals and a great selection of works for every budget and taste. Many of our visiting artists will return to show their work one last time in the Revolver gallery and the Hive Annex (the studio behind the Hive gallery). This is a great time to take advantage of great deals and score the perfect piece. All of my remaining color works will be on half price sale as I try to liquidate my older inventory to make room for new ideas and to raise money for my future travels.  

  

For more information about our new organization please keep visiting www.morphtheorg.com and learn ways you can help, as we try to find a permanent home and come back better than ever in January as the Fayetteville Art Alliance.

I have been busy this last week as well, restocking my etsy shop with fresh new affordable works. It is always fun to restock the etsy shop and get to know the other talented etsy sellers. I have been very fortunate as my new works have been selected for many lovely treasuries and I have been asked to be a part of two impressive etsy teams. If you are looking for small, affordable, one of a kind works of art, then please visit my shop. These piece are fresh and elegant and will pop into any 5x7" frame making presentation a snap! I am currently offering free shipping and I will happily ship to anywhere in the world!

I think that is about all I have for you this week. I know that some bigger ideas are brewing, it is just a matter of time... Until then keep fighting!

Gratitude

 

A sneak peak of my upcoming exhibition,  A Certain Trajectory 

December 2011 Blue Moon Gallery Hot Springs Arkansas.

Dear Lovely Readers,

As some of you may have noticed, I skipped a week. I am not pleased about this but that is how it has to be sometimes. Life got in the way and I was happy to let it. I hope you all have been well in your art worlds and lives. Today, I just wanted to remind myself of some things and share some positive aspects of being an artist. I am grateful and here are some of the reasons why.

1. I have been showing my art in galleries since 1995. In those sixteen years I have been in over twenty featured and solo exhibitions and in over thirty group shows.

2. My work has been allowed to grow and change over these years because I have had good mentors in my life as well as friends, fellow artists and people around me who have supported, influenced and inspired me and encouraged my growth.

3. My art has put me in contact with lovely and diverse people all over the country and the world. My understanding of the world has been broadened because of art.

4. I am able to support myself doing what I know I am on the planet to do. I am able to express my inner most dreams, fears, secrets as well as passions and share them and give an image to feelings many viewers might not be able to express.

I am grateful for a lot more than this, but this seems like a good start.

In other news, I have been thinking about a new series of works. I am quite excited about the concepts, and truly I am just excited to be thinking of art again. I have been so caught up in the logistics of art and arts organizations that my work and that part of my brain have taken a back seat.

Soon the work will pour out of me again and I can't wait to share it with you. Thank you for being a part of it all.

Stay tuned....

Art update!

 

 he did the impossible 

© 2011 Megan Chapman 

sold

I have been hammered with work (not painting) as the Underground morphs into a new organization. We are a dedicated group of individuals who have worked too hard to make the Underground what it has become today to let it slide or fade away. We are all exhausted and yet at the same time deeply encouraged by the support of the community. I could write a lot about this experience and one day I am sure I will, but I thought I might return the focus to my art career for a split second.

So, here is my news. In December I will be having a solo exhibition at the Blue Moon Gallery in Hot Springs, Arkansas. It will be my first exhibition in three years at the gallery that has represented me since 2004. They have always shown my color work and have stood by me as my work has progressed and changed over the years, I am glad that I will be able to show some of my newer white series work in that part of the state. This exhibition will be a combination of my two most recent bodies of work, Falling into Sound and Sometimes I love you and other stories. I will be coming up with a title soon and picking just the right pieces to go together for this exhibition. I hope you will join me in Hot Spring for First Friday gallery walk December 2 from 5-9. It has been awhile since I have been down for a gallery walk so I am very excited. I hope I can get some of my fellow Underground studio mates to join me down there.

Also, in December I have been invited to show several works from my Sometimes I love you and other stories series in a gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland! I am very excited that some of these recent works will be shown at the Union Gallery in their annual Christmas show. I am sad I won't be traveling with them, but all in good time....

In other news, I just received word that two of my paintings. Home and He did the impossible, from my most recent series will be published in the winter edition of CALYX journal. CALYX is a journal that has been publishing fine art and literature by women since 1976. I am thrilled.

So, while I am currently not painting much my career as an artist keeps on moving forward. I know soon, I will have the time and the space to work again in the way I am accustomed, but first I must help as artists of the underground find a new home and get settled. Thanks for stopping by and for always reading, thinking, talking to me about my work. Your support is instrumental to my success. 

Have you helped morph the org yet? You can hear my fellow studio mate, Sabine Schmidt and me in a recent radio interview about the Underground artists and how we are morphing the org by clicking here. 

We are all in this together. Keep fighting, the world needs your art.

Viva!

The Fayetteville Underground is Morphing into Something New

Artists to Launch a New Nonprofit Community Arts Organization

The artists and the board of the Fayetteville Underground gathered last week in the Vault Gallery, for a meeting to discuss future plans of the organization.  It was at this meeting that the board revealed they would be dissolving The Fayetteville Underground at the end of the year.  They did not leave open the option for the artists to carry on with the current organization.  After the meeting the artists stayed to discuss the news and plan for the future.  A decision was made by the artists to create a new arts organization based on the current model.  

Studio Artist and current Co-Artisic Director of the Fayetteville Underground, Megan Chapman, commented, “A lot of time and energy goes into creating something as special as The Fayetteville Underground. Every studio artist, every craft artist and every visiting artist that has shown at The Underground has made it what it is today. The artists know that we can take what we have learned through our experience here, and go forward to create something new that is even more impressive and exciting for all the artists involved, as well as for the community at large.”  

The November and December First Thursdays at the Fayetteville Underground will continue as planned.  The artists have launched a website to help transition to a new organization, and individuals can find the website at:  morphtheorg.com.  The artists are also asking that community members help them select a new name, by voting online or in person at the November First Thursday.  Voting will end on November 7th, and the winning name will be released the following day.  As the Fayetteville Underground takes a new shape, the artists ask that the community continue their support and direct any ideas, proposals or donations to the website at: morphtheorg.com.

Please remember! The Fayetteville Underground will remain open through December. Please join us for our November and December opening receptions on the First Thursday of each month from 5-8pm. Our regular gallery hours are W-F 12-5 and Saturday 10-5 and we will maintain our hours and our galleries until the end of the year. Thank you for your support and please help us as we move forward.

What I know is true...

 

There has been a lot of talk about the Fayetteville Underground lately. A lot of talk from artists, friends, patrons, supporters, media and board members: you name it, people are talking. It has been as interesting to be a part of, as it has been to overhear and watch. As Andy Warhol was quoted as saying, "Don't pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches." With all of this buzz in the air, sometimes I just need to cut through the chatter and remember what I know is true of my experience at the Fayetteville Underground. There are many amazing things that I have been a part of at the Fayetteville Underground and some that I am directly responsible for. This is a list for me, so I can remember.
 
When I joined The Underground, I wanted a place to work away from my home studio. That was my only expectation. The first year I was there I didn't show my work in the galleries or sell my work from my studio as I was under contract with the lovely ddp gallery on Mountain St. Since the organization needed money and couldn't make any from me, I worked more volunteer hours than most to subsidize my rent and prove my worth. I wasn't counting the hours though, because I soon knew I was a part of something bigger than just a studio and that what you put into the Fayetteville Underground was what you got out of it. When the ddp gallery closed, I started showing and selling my work through The Underground as well and I was overwhelmed not only with sales but also all the opportunities that seemed to come my way. Suddenly it became apparent that we, the artists,  were building something Fayetteville had never seen before.
 
On Saturday April, 25th, 2009 soon after moving my studio to the Underground I created the Fayetteville Underground Blog, to help familiarize the public with what was happening in the basement of the empty "old bank building." At first this blog was more in depth, as I interviewed artists and compiled press information for them with pictures of our new location.
 
I still maintain the blog today, posting special events and press information for upcoming shows, as well as other notable mentions for the Underground community. It serves as a small record of what we have accomplished in a short period of time and of all the brilliant artists that have crossed our path.
 
Besides starting the Fayetteville Undground blog, I was directly responsible for bringing many exhibitions to the Fayetteville Underground, listed below. This was an enormous task. There were countless emails, chats, diagrams, photographs, writings, ideas and questions sent back and forth between myself and some of the artists. Sometimes I even funded these shows, printing them in house, as well as mounting them. I also installed many of the exhibitions as well, handled sales and shipped the works back. I learned so much and have such a different understanding and appreciation of gallery owners and artists because of this. Thanks to all the visiting artists who had a show at the Fayetteville Underground. It was a pleasure working with you and your brilliant art. Thanks to Henry Turner for printing and installation assistance on the Institute du loop and Christian Demare exhibitions.
 
Matters of Consequence: January 2010 : Revolver Gallery
Christopher Baber and Michael Shaefer from Hot Springs, Arkansas

Strangers and Not So Strange: Feburary 2010: Hive Gallery
Craig Earl Nelson from Fayetteville, Arkansas

A place to drown: July 2010: Hive Gallery 
Institute du loop from Taipei, Taiwan 

Ghosts in the Landscape #2: August 2010: Hive Gallery 
Christian Demare from Paris, France

North, West, East, South: September 2010: Hive Gallery
Thomas Petillo from Nashville,Tennessee 

Theft by finding: April 2011: Hive Gallery 
Steven Heaton, Rob Kedwards, John Spurgeon (aka Shakesmyteeth) all from U.K.

Iteration/Span: May 2011: Hive Gallery
Stewart Bremner from Edinburgh, Scotland and Craig Munro from Birmingham, England

Mise en Place: July 2011: Hive Gallery
Michele Maule from Portland, Oregon

The World Without Us: September 2011: Hive Gallery
Steven Heaton from Manchester, England

Animal Technology: October 2011: Hive Gallery 
Flannery Grace Horan from Little Rock, Arkansas and Becki Lamascus from Fayetteville, Arkansas
 
As well as the exhibitions, I also gave several talks about my art, the Fayetteville Underground, the shows I curated and marketing art in general. I gave a lecture to the Boston Mountain Potters Association, on ways to successfully market one's art. I also gave the talk Art Collecting 101: The Thrill of Original Art at the Revolver gallery and gave a two-hour lecture/tour for students of The Osher Institute, called Artful Spaces: A visit to the Fayetteville Underground.
 
In July 2010 I gave an art talk about English artist, Institute du Loop's exhibition and in August I spoke about the work of French photographer Christian Demare. In September I lead another lecture/tour for the students of the Osher Institute and in November I gave an informal lecture about my work to a group of university students studying with artist Cindy Wiseman. Speaking about art and engaging the community is something I really enjoy doing. It was such a thrill to create my own opportunities and give back to the community at the same time.
 
Besides those speaking engagements, I often speak monthly with our local National Public Radio affiliate, KUAF's correspondent Jacqueline Froelich on Ozarks at Large, about our upcoming exhibitions. If I am not speaking, I am helping to facilitate the other artist's interviews.
 
Besides these exciting and more obvious tasks there are many other organizational things I do behind the scenes of the organization along with Co-Artistic Director Jennifer Libby Fay. We have helped schedule the artist's gallery shifts so that The Underground maintains regular gallery hours. We have also created the bulk of the programming for the Fayetteville Underground. Many weekly meetings are spent reviewing artist's submissions for exhibitions and studios from near and far. We spend hours coordinating with visiting artists, studio artists, and craft artists to fill our four galleries each month with top notch shows. We have also encouraged our fellow Underground artists to curate additional shows creating a varied and inclusive exhibition schedule.
 
Jennifer and I also coordinate the publicity with studio artist Matthew Depper, to make sure all the artists showing at the Fayetteville Underground get the publicity they deserve, as well as supervising the snappy banners, posters and vinyl letters that Matthew designs and orders, to help make us the professional organization that we have become.
 
A lot of time and energy goes into creating something as special as The Underground. Every studio artist, every craft artist and every visiting artist that has shown at The Underground has made it what it is today. I am grateful for all the opportunities the Fayetteville Underground has given me and my fellow artists.

I could never have done any of this without Jennifer Libby Fay. We make a brilliant team and I thank The Fayetteville Underground for our friendship and for showing us just what we can accomplish, all the while working on our own art and watching our own careers flourish. It has been truly amazing.

Thanks to the building owners, Ted and Leslie Belden for letting a dream grow and flourish for as long as it did in that beautiful space. Thanks to the art lovers and patrons for their support and encouragement, smiles and purchases. 

What I know is that I am an independent business owner as an artist and I will continue to make my art and I will continue to share it and all the art I love with the community that surrounds me. 

Connections

 

 The closing of eyes, mixed media on canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman $250

What a week! My exhibition, Sometimes I love you and other stories came down last Saturday. Then rather than feeling too sad about it, I quickly changed gears and helped artist Stewart Bremner fix up his new studio space at the Underground. It was quite amazing to see all the work he has managed to do while he has been visiting. You can read more about that at his blog- he has lots of exciting news to share as well!

Then there was a whirl wind trip down to Hot Springs, Arkansas (ranked number 4 small arts community in America) just to get away, look at some art, and check in with the Blue Moon Gallery. I have been represented by the Blue Moon since 2004. They were one the first larger commercial galleries that accepted my work and for that I will always be grateful. Sadly, I have been so busy at the Fayetteville Underground that I haven't gone down there as often as I should. It was lovely to see everyone and I was thrilled when they offered me a solo exhibition in December! That is right around the corner! I look forward to sharing some of my Falling into sound works with them and perhaps a few new pieces... we will see!

In other exhibition news, I was also offered an exhibition at the Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, Arkansas. This exhibition will be a two months in March and April. So I have things to do and soon!

I still don't know what I am supposed to paint next, and I probably won't know for a while. I am trying not to let that bother me and just focus on submitting my work to galleries across the country and work on getting more exhibitions scheduled. I am also quite busy with the Underground., as many of my readers know we have to find a new home soon, as we must be out by Janurary 15th. I will miss my studio and our beautiful galleries. I have learned so much and worked with so many talented people at the Underground. It really is a thrill and it is so exciting to see all the opportunities that have opened up for all the artists who have worked here over the years.

I think that is all I have for you this week, until next week keep fighting!

PS. Have you checked out my new website? Have you liked me on facebook? 

Thank you.

What comes next?

 Diving within © Megan Chapman 2011 

mixed media on canvas 30x40" $1,350

A month has come and gone and as I write this, my exhibition Sometimes I love you and other stories will close tomorrow at 5pm. It is always a strange feeling when a show comes to a close. A slight sense of loss or sadness hovers around me. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely happy and pleased at the response my exhibition has received and the sales were fantastic as well. Taking down the show will take mere minutes yet preparing for the show and installing it takes months and hours. The pieces that have sold will be wrapped up and off to find their new homes while the other ones will go back to my studio and wait for another opportunity to be seen.

What will I paint next? What will the next series be? Where will my work be shown next? These questions flood my brain. I will experience the post show blues and lull. Truthfully, I probably have been experiencing that for a while already- it's no big deal, the more shows I have, the more comfortable and accepting of this phase of the process I have become.

Will I work on paper again? Re-stock my etsy shop? Start making works for the Underground Christmas sale? Cull more of my older color work for another super sale? I just don't know. I will try to take good care of myself, watch films, listen to music, take photographs, write, and know that all the while I am doing that, I am replenishing the well of inspiration. The next series will come forward organically over time and I will be ready when it does.

Thanks to all my dear friends near and far, my family, my teachers, my lovely patrons and supporters, and especially Stewart for his love and support. Sometimes I love you and other stories,  was a challenging and exciting series for me and I am so glad I was able to share it with such lovely people.

In other news, my website had a complete redesign! Please visit my new site and share it with your friends. Click on the image below.

Until next week, keep fighting. The worlds needs your art.

A love letter to the Fayetteville Underground

Having a studio outside my home had always been a goal of mine, an expensive dream that would most likely remain impossible. Having a studio meant that I could close the door on my daily life and go to work like the rest of the world. It would be a place dedicated to the making of art, a place where messy dreams come to life and where drips of paint on the floor and walls were welcomed. A place for patrons to check in and see works in progress and develop a relationship with me as an artist. This is what I had wanted for so long and this is what I got. In April 2009 I moved into a small studio at the Fayetteville Underground in downtown Fayetteville, Arkansas.

The Fayetteville Underground was just forming at the time, taking the basement of a mostly vacant bank building on the somewhat empty downtown square. It was a big experiment, an idea to have four galleries and fifteen working artist studios and a classroom. A dream to make Fayetteville an arts destination and help to boost the economy and desirability of the town.

When I initially signed my lease I thought of it also as a personal experiment. I was a little concerned that the other studio mates might be a distraction or that I would feel nervous working in a group environment. I would be giving up the windows of my attic studio and it also meant I would be changing my schedule and how I worked as an artist. I had been the type of painter that would roll out of bed at three in the morning to paint and I worried if working in this more formal environment with the more regular hours would hinder my creativity. It took a long time to get used to the sounds of the building, the manufactured air and the remnants of bankers and their offices. I'd also be lying if I didn't mention that it took time to get used to my fellow studio mates comings and goings, music and moods.

To top off the studio experience there were the four galleries to fill and regular hours to keep and the whole act of helping to create what has now become one of the premier arts organizations in the state of Arkansas. When I look back and remember how The Underground was when it started and how far it has come over the last two and a half years it is astonishing. Being a part of the Fayetteville Underground has been one of the greatest adventures and accomplishments of my life.

I have been able to work with some of the most amazing people and my studio mates have become my family. We celebrate together and we share our sorrows too. We talk about our big ideas as well as our tangents that quickly burn out. We have supported each other through the thick and the thin. Many of us had studios before the underground as well as gallery representation, but we didn't have this team of fellow artists behind us and we didn't know what we could achieve as a collective body. We have brought local, national and international artists and their exhibitions to Fayetteville. The underground artists consistently create and install quality exhibitions month after month.

I believe I have done some of my best work of my career during my time at the Fayetteville Underground. I think it has to do with the freedom and excitement that comes from working around other like minded artists. Our work improves as we are not working in a vacuum and have a built in audience that arrives each month during our First Thursday artist receptions. It is reassuring to know that someone will see our work, even if it is just a piece in progress in our studios. And that brings me back to First Thursday. I remember the first few and then suddenly the crowds! Suddenly it just took off and we were hosting 1000 people at the Underground a month! It was a thrill to feel the swell of people and to absorb their support and enthusiasm for the art we were providing them. Suddenly the empty square started filling up with new businesses and the empty bank building wasn't so empty anymore. We were starting to accomplish our goals as an organization and people were starting to take notice.

This did not happen over night and it was not easy, it took many meetings and much organization to create what the Fayetteville Underground has become. The Underground is about one thing and one thing only, and that is art. When rumors were flying about our lost lease we kept working, we kept doing what we do best, to bring the best in visual art to the city of Fayetteville. We kept having our studios open. our First Thursday receptions and we kept smiling (most of the time). We kept sharing our experiences of what the Fayetteville Underground has meant to us or what great show we were bringing next, or our next big body of work in progress.

My studio is my haven, my safe place in this world. Where I can float away into my art and bring forth new ideas to share with the public and my fellow artists. The family I have made there is special to me and we believe strongly in the value of what we do. This is our life and our livelihood. We will have to be out of our current building by January 15th and we have been a nervous wreck as a group ever since we found out this sad news, but we are a united group and we hope to find a new home for our studios and galleries.

Our lives have been deeply touched by all those whose talent, skill, and generosity has helped to create the Underground. I am not the same person or artist I was when I signed my lease in 2009 and I can't wait to see what this next incarnation of the Fayetteville Underground brings not only to the artists but to Fayetteville. 

Viva la Underground!

In other news: My exhibition Sometimes I love you and other stories closes on October 1. So please go see it at the Vault Gallery at the Fayetteville Underground before it does. Gallery hours are W-F 12-7 and Saturday 10-5. I am grateful for the support this exhibition has received!

I am also having a special sale of the color paintings in my studio. All of these works are half price until September 30th! Learn more about that here. If you have any questions about my sale please email me at megancha@gmail.com.

The rewards of saying yes

Home 

Mixed Media on Canvas

© 2011 Megan Chapman

Sold

Being an artist is a thrill, you just never know where this profession will take you. I have been incredibly lucky to have gracious patrons that have passed in and out of my life over the years and I always enjoy meeting new ones and learning their stories and interests. This week I went on a little adventure with some patrons and it was such a fun experience I thought I would share a little bit of it here.

Sharon and Gary are artists as well as patrons of mine and artist Stewart Bremner. Besides painting, Stewart is currently photographing a series of vintage and classic cars and our patrons have been following along vicariously with his project. Sharon kindly suggested we connect with Gary and his collection of cars.

So Stewart and I made arrangements and off we went! This past Wednesday was all about cars and spending time with lovely people talking about cars. We drove around the neighboring towns in NW Arkansas and the cars were as beautiful and impressive as were the people we encountered.

I just wanted to remind myself about the wonderful connections that come from being an artist. It is all apart of being connected to something bigger than yourself and saying yes to opportunities as they present themselves. Passion is contagious whether it is the passion for restoring old cars or creating art. Wednesday was a wonderful day that I won't soon forget, and all brought to me by art!

Thank you Sharon, Gary and Don for sharing your time, your cars, and your passion with us.

In other news, my exhibition Sometimes I love you and other stories is on display for the remainder of September at the Fayetteville Underground in the Vault Gallery. Gallery hours are W-F 12-7 and Sat 10-5. I am very proud of this body of work and overwhelmed at the response this work has received. If you have not already seen the show, please don't miss it.

For an in depth look at some of the story behind the show and some more about me, you might want to read this recent profile by Haley Ray, a journalism student of the University of Arkansas. You can read it here. I was really pleased that she contacted my mentor/professor Ron Graff from the University of Oregon for a quote in the piece.

Tomorrow, Saturday September 17th I will be participating in a meet the artists event at the Fayetteville Underground from 10-1pm with fellow studio mate Linda Sheets. We will be on hand to discuss our work in more detail and in a more intimate setting than a typical First Thursday. If you are local or regional I hope you can drop in and learn more about our exhibitions.

Also for the next two weeks only, I am having a special sale of the color paintings in my studio. All of these works are half price until September 30th! Learn more about that here. If you have any questions about my sale please email me at megancha@gmail.com.

As the world slides by

Sometimes I love you and other stories is off to a very strong start! Two more pieces sold last Saturday and another on Monday. A total of seven paintings have found new homes in the first week of the show! I am beyond pleased and so grateful for everyone's support.

As I often do, I gave myself permission to take some time off and just absorb the body of work I have created. I let myself enjoy seeing it in the gallery and I just spend time with the work and simply being in my studio but without the pressure of having to create anything. I don't think about the next series or direction. Now is not the time for that.

Today I went for a long drive in the meandering country side, listening to music and I just let the world slide by.

Don't forget to do this. Take the time, refill the well and celebrate what you have accomplished. And as always keep fighting...

Sometimes I love you and other stories is in the Vault Gallery through the month of September at the Fayetteville Underground. Gallery hours are W-F 12-7 and Saturday 10-5. If those hours don't suit you, feel free to email me at megancha@gmail.com and I can open the gallery for you by appointment.

Sometimes I love you...

Sometimes I love you and other stories from stewart bremner on Vimeo. Sometimes I love you... a short film by Stewart Bremner.

Oh what a week! Last night, Sometimes I love you and other stories opened at the Vault Gallery in the Fayetteville Underground. It was a lovely night, the crowds were amazing and the show looked great. I am happy to report that the evening concluded with four sales as well!

my paintings on the vault gallery walls

I am very proud of this exhibition and of myself for taking some risks in order to create the work. The glowing white paintings came together perfectly and transformed the gallery. The patrons who came to view the show last night were very receptive and their comments validated what I had to hoped to accomplish with this show. These works are my story and are intimate but at the same time they communicate something all of us feel and can relate to. The responses and stories I heard from people were also intimate and this was very special and moving to me. I heard stories about long distance relationships and new love, as well as from an older man who had just lost his wife. The words in one particular painting echoed his longing for and thoughts of her. Overcome with emotion, he was barely able to speak as he pointed to the painting that reminded him of his lost love. I soon became unable to speak as well. That moment in the night is one that I will hold close and remember always, his response was a gift to me and somehow my art was a comfort to him.

Last night was also a lovely reminder of how special the Fayetteville Underground is and how vibrant Fayetteville's art scene has become. The conversations, the interactions and the sheer number of people that attend First Thursday at the Underground is astounding. I feel very fortunate to live and work where I do and very proud of what I have helped the Underground achieve. My work has grown and expanded so much in the time I have had my studio at the Underground and my scope and reach within the art community both locally and internationally has as well. I am fortunate and grateful.

If you missed the opening of my exhibition, it will be on display throughout the month of September and gallery hours are W-F 12-7 and Saturday 10-5. Click here to listen to an interview on our local NPR station about the exhibitions at the Underground this month. If you have any questions about these works or would like to contact me personally about them or arrange for a tour of the show please don't hesitate to email me at megancha@gmail.com.

my paintings on the vault gallery walls

Thanks to all my friends near and far, my family, my art supporters and patrons. Thanks to my family of artists at the Fayetteville Underground. Thanks to Rodney Wilhite for the loan of his wonderful typewriter.

Love and thanks to Stewart Bremner for doing the impossible.

Next week! Sometimes I love you and other stories

Please consider this your personal invitation to my exhibition Sometimes I love you and other stories. I hope to see you on September 1 from 5-8pm in the Vault Gallery at the Fayetteville Underground. The twenty-one paintings are now complete. I am taking care of the final touches this week and signing and naming the works. I can't wait to see them all on the gallery walls and share them with you. It is always a thrill to see the works out of the cluttered working studio and into the spacious and well lit gallery.

Press Release:
Megan Chapman's latest series of paintings, Sometimes I love you and other stories, will be shown at the Fayetteville Underground during the month of September in the Vault Gallery. These monochromatic works are fused with words typed on paper torn from old books and give the viewer the sense of reading pages out of a diary or letters to a distant lover. Very minimal in nature, the work explores the artist's love of the graphite line, as it cuts through the brilliantly white-painted canvas.

The series reflects on the kind of love that catches one unexpectedly, the kind we always knew was somewhere on the planet yet was for others. At the same time that this love seems special or unique, it is also ordinary and known. It is both new and old and never simple or easy, yet somehow it fills the gaps within, making the core of the person it touches stronger.

Sometimes I love you and other stories represents the absence of fear and the challenges to our beliefs about ourselves and the world outside upon finding another soul that we can sometimes love.

Megan Chapman was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She received her B.F.A. in painting from the University of Oregon. She has shown her work over the past fifteen years in Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington State, Washington D.C., Philadelphia PA, and recently in Liverpool, England. Megan's work has appeared in various publications and is held in numerous private collections both nationally and internationally.

4000 miles and an ocean

The most complicated plan
Mixed Media on Canvas 12x12"
© 2011 Megan Chapman
$250

Things have been humming along in my studio in fits and starts. Yesterday was a particularly good day for painting as I finished some new works for my upcoming exhibition. I can't wait to get back to the studio today to finish up more of these latest paintings. My exhibition will be here before I know it. "Sometimes I love you and other stories," opens on September 1st from 5-8pm as part of the Fayetteville Underground's First Thursday artists' receptions. If you are local or regional or just happen to be passing through Fayetteville, I hope you will join me in the Vault Gallery. I would love to see you there.

This work might be different from what most would consider my style of painting. The addition of the typed words along with the paintings changes things. It is at once an aesthetic object to be enjoyed and viewed as a whole, as well as something that asks to be read and digested. Time is being asked of the viewer. One can't just give these works a cursory glance and move on as with traditional painting. If the words are not read, one may leave feeling cold, but if the viewer takes the time they will be rewarded. Across between poetry, love letters and slips of dreams on canvas, these minimalist paintings share my sense of longing for and separation from, someone I love. They also speak to the universal longing that we all feel at one time or another. The secret thoughts and wishful hopes, the romantic notions that float through our minds only to fade, are somehow caught on the canvas to remain a permanent reminder.

Within the exhibition there are also the other stories, the paintings that do not contain my words, yet still obviously tie into the series. Some of these pieces may have parts of books embedded within as well as the same color palette used throughout the show, mostly comprised of brilliant white, rusty orange, graphite and charcoal. Lines feature heavily in these works as well. My love of line has never been stronger than it is within this work. These lines reach out across the pure white, sometimes like vines, wires, sound waves, an electric current or even the ocean. Perhaps they are the threads that connect and sometimes break between people. These lines stretch and reach darkly across the white, searching.

There is a surface quality to this work that is a bit different from my previous work as well, it is a bit glossy and slick yet also waxy. I am really excited about this aspect, as many know I flirted with a waxy, foggy surface with my Secret Blocks, but this time I have found a new medium that does exactly what I have always wanted! It is very exciting to find and use a new tool in the studio.

I think you can tell I am pleased with how this body of work is shaping up and I could tell you more and analyze it further, but I really must get to the studio and get to work!!

Thank you always for your support and interest in my work. It helps so much to know you are out there and that you are keeping up with what is going on in the studio and beyond. I am very fortunate to have made so many friends and supportive collectors because of my art.

Until next week, keep fighting!
Remember the world needs your art.