Tonight's the night!

 

 good and quiet
mixed media on paper 5x7"
© 2012 Megan Chapman

£40

Tonight is the opening of my first solo international exhibition! It is very exciting as you might imagine. It is a bit surreal  but at the same time I have been working towards this for a while so here we are. It feels a bit like Christmas. 

I have created twelve new works on paper for this exhibition and along with these I will be showing four of my remaining pieces from my last exhibition, Sometimes I love you and other stories. These four canvas paintings were shown during my exhibition in September at the Fayetteville Underground and then they made the transatlantic journey before I did so that they could be included in the Winter Wonderland exhibition that was in December and January at the lovely Union Gallery in Edinburgh. I am really glad that these works will have another chance to be viewed here. They tie in nicely with the more affordable, smaller, white framed paper works.

As with the canvas paintings, in the smaller pieces I used an older manual type writer that jumps and sputters, leaving uneven spaces but this time with red and black inked words. The words are my own and reflect my thoughts while being here in Edinburgh. While the canvas paintings words reflected my longing to be where my partner was and aspects of our relationship broken into three worlds; the imagined, the technology based and finally our meeting in reality.

The paper works reflect the relationship as it is here in Scotland and are much more grounded in the reality of what I have done to get here to Edinburgh and face my fears of the unknown. The paper works also reflect my surroundings as I take in this new land. The lines echo the geology of the area, the sea and the atmosphere of the grey winter sky. The paper pieces are evidence of the conversations in my head as I reconcile what I have done to change my life and find myself in this relationship and in Scotland. Simple words, lines, and vintage ruled paper from Her Majesty's Stationary Office that once belonged to Stewart's grandfather are used to stage these moments and hold them in a type of  permanence..

I have created twenty-nine small works on paper while I have been here in Edinburgh. It has been a challenge with a small kitchen work top studio and different materials but it has also been a thrill and makes me feel even more confident in my commitment to my art. I am particularly pleased with the last batch of works I did that the viewers will find in this exhibition. It was also pleasing to see them framed. I don't usually frame my small works on paper, leaving that up to the patron, but for this exhibition I knew I wanted to have them all framed in simple white deep frames. They look so clean and fresh framed and the dark text and the yellowed vintage paper really pop!

I hope the exhibition will be well received. Truly for me it is already a success. To be here and to be having a show is just an amazing experience. Thanks for going along on this ride with me. I hope to take some photographs of the opening and I will try to post them next week if not sooner. Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Until next week... keep fighting.

From Across the Ocean
New works by American artist Megan Chapman
Opens Tonight! Friday March 9th at Embo from 6-8pm.
29 Haddington Place Leith Walk, 
Edinburgh. Scotland.

no longer a sanctuary
mixed media on paper 5x7"
© 2012 Megan Chapman

£40