Friday, January 22, 2010

A pocket full of live wires...

scribbles from my studio wall

Let's see...

Last Thursday night I gave a lecture to the Boston Mountain Potters Association, on ways to successfully market ones art. It was fun, I enjoyed the opportunity to share some of the things that have worked for me in the past. I was honored to be asked to speak. I felt it was a good talk but perhaps not one of my best. I was a little scattered and perhaps a bit fast in my talking, but I enjoyed it and they seemed to as well. So that makes the 3rd formal speaking engagement of my career.

Also last week, a review was written about the 20th annual small and miniature works exhibition at the Aaron Gallery in Washington D.C. I was thrilled to find my work mentioned. "...
Megan Chapman’s works, with their dark, yet very deep and intense colors, convey a sense of power and strength so aptly expressed in her piece titled Implosion." You can read the whole review here and don't forget if you are in the Washington D.C. area please visit the show, which ends at the end of the month.

I also mailed off a small work on paper from my Etsy shop to Finland, I have never sent anything to Finland before, so that was a thrill.
Thanks to my etsy shop ArtMaven, my work has been collected in Canada, England, The Netherlands, Australia, France, and Scotland as well as all across the United States.

After wrestling with some of the worst artist's block I have ever known, I managed to paint in my studio, with some good and mixed results (out of frustration I cut up a 40x30" canvas into 3x3" ragged squares!!) However, I have continued on with my white series, even though some people were shocked when I mentioned the idea, as I am known for my use of color. These paintings will be more like drawings on painted white canvas and other surfaces; using charcoal, colored pencil, with some words involved as well. While seemingly new they are rooted in a past obsession with white, grey and black drawings that I made in my book series similar to images that appeared in my "cult deprogramming manual" in 1999. It is strange that I feel the need to justify this shift in my work, or prove to people that it is not unknown for me to work with little color.

I will share pictures of these new pieces soon, I just want to let them jell and process them some more. I am excited and I am enjoying keeping them to myself a bit right now.

Tomorrow, I am giving a talk at the Fayetteville Underground called
Art Collecting 101: The Thrill of Original Art at the Revolver gallery. I am excited, scared, and looking forward to seeing what happens at this lecture. I have never given a talk like this before. I will give you a full report next week. I really just wanted more people to see the work of Michael Shaeffer and Christopher Baber and their Matters of Consequence exhibition I curated. It is an amazing and dynamic body of work that contains many affordable works, and I thought it would be a good jumping off point for many new or younger collectors. We will see what happens.

I think that is all I have for you this week. I am currently listening to this song on repeat in my ears thanks to my dear friend at the factory. Nothing like new music to get the creative mind up and running again.

Thanks for looking in and remember, everyday we paint is a victory!



6 comments:

  1. I am very interested in seeing the white works.... artists block and all that stuff... no fun. Hopefully the clean, colorless palette will cleanse the grime which gets in the creative tubes. :)

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  2. Good post there Megan.
    I like the way some transitions are happening - being a public speaker and the revisiting of an art-making process.
    The creative block thing is a real downer, but it sounds like you've moved through it and are now on a sound path. Sound path being inspired by a great tune!

    Look forward to reading your next instalment.

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  3. Can't wait to see the new "white series"!

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  4. Didn't know you had given talks - takes a great deal of courage to stand in front of a room full of strangers and hold their attention for even five minutes! So well done for having 2 talks in quick succession, good luck with the next one.

    Still eager to see the new 'white' works...

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  5. ..and what a victory.. the results will blow your mind, they blew mine, and the factory is hard wired..
    so many good things are happening.
    ..an important and solid foundation for this year is being built.
    it is going to be the year.
    the year.

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  6. Sounds like you've been really busy. I'm looking forward to seeing your new paintings when you're ready to show us.

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