I want to tell you everything

I think I spent most of this week recovering from the past two. Thanks to everyone who came out to the Welcome to the Jungle preview last Saturday evening at Union Gallery. It's a lovely show, for a great cause, and if you are local to the area I hope you will pay it a visit. The show remains up through the 25th November. You can see a gallery of photos from the preview over on facebook. Click here.

This week, I delighted to be able to share a digital copy of an article that came out about my work in Sogo Magazine about this time last year. The author Brian McFie and publisher Craig Wallace of the brilliant Glasgow arts publication graciously gave me permission to share it on social media and I was so glad to be able to share it with folks further afield who might not have access to the publication. I would, of course, encourage folks to subscribe if they are able. Print journals are a very important addition to the art world and they can't do it alone. If you missed it, you can find the article by clicking here.

Continuing on the theme of the article, I talked about it further on my Tuesday Studio Visit Video over on my Facebook art page as well as talking about the value of titles of art to engage views with a language they can understand and the importance of art being accessible for everyone. If you missed it the first time, you can see it again here.



This week, I also returned to the studio for a large spot of painting, laying the groundwork for this large piece. Here is the underpainting for a 120x100cm canvas. I am loving the size. I am just getting started so we will see where the piece is again by next week.

Just a quick reminder, pop by The Velvet Easel Gallery in Portobello for their latest mixed exhibition, Winters Edge. This exciting exhibition opens tomorrow, Saturday, November 4th and runs through 25th of February. 

There will be drinks and nibbles and artists popping in throughout Saturday from 10-5. I plan to stop by. I always find new art I love at the Velvet Easel and I am so pleased to have my work there. 

Winters Edge
4.11.17 - 25.2.18
The Velvet Easel Gallery
298 Portobello High Street
Portobello, Edinburgh EH15 2AS
Thursday - Saturday: 10.00 - 5.00pm
Sunday 12-5pm

Thanks for reading and clicking on links, looking at my paintings and for sharing this story with me. Until next week, keep fighting. The world needs you and your art.

Exhibition and Interview News!

A change in the frequency

Acrylic on canvas

41x51x4cm / 16x20x1.5"

© 2016 Megan Chapman

When it rains, it pours! I am very excited to write that I will be participating in two exhibitions, both of which are opening tomorrow and on two different continents!

In Edinburgh, come join us at the gorgeous Union Gallery located at 4 Drumsheugh Place in Edinburgh’s West End, for the preview this Saturday (tomorrow) the 8th of April from 4-6pm! I am delighted to have work featured in this exhibition with such a talented group of fellow artists. The exhibition will be on show from the 8th of April through the 13th of May.

"The Colour Purple is a curated exhibition with artists including Joyce Gunn Cairns MBE, Jenny Matthews, Annette Edgar, Drummond Mayo, Megan Chapman and Jackie Gardiner contributing to what will be a beautiful exhibition."

I will be showing four works from my New Language series (one pictured above and three below). This will be the first time they have shown outside of my studio since they were created. There will also be several of my wee works on canvas available in the gallery as well. I am looking forward to seeing the work up on the gallery walls. If you are local and can join us, it would be lovely to see you at the preview tomorrow.

Out of my mouth come flowers, come barbs Acrylic on canvas
41x51x4cm / 16x20x1.5"
© 2016 Megan Chapman

The new language
Acrylic on canvas
76x51x4cm / 30x20x1.5"
© 2016 Megan Chapman

All the time it took to remember
Acrylic on canvas
76x51x4cm / 30x20x1.5"
© 2016 Megan Chapman

Faith, optimism, alchemy
Acrylic on canvas
6x8.5"/15x21cm
© 2016 Megan Chapman

The ache at my fingertips
Acrylic on canvas
8.5x6"/21x15cm
© 2016 Megan Chapman

When words escape me
Acrylic on canvas
8.5x6"/21x15cm
© 2016 Megan Chapman

In my hometown of Fayetteville, Arkansas I am honored to be included in the impressive lineup of artists in the Fenix & Friends: Art at the Walker-Stone exhibition. My Reconstruction series of paintings will be on show April 8-29th at the beautiful Walker-Stone House just off the Fayetteville Square located at 207 W. Center. Gallery Hours: Thursday and Friday 12-8 Saturday 10-4 Sunday 12-9.

Adrift
12x12" mixed media on panel
© 2014 Megan Chapman

After the fire
12x12" mixed media on panel
© 2014 Megan Chapman

Begin again
12x12" mixed media on panel
© 2014 Megan Chapman

I'll sing my secrets
12x12" mixed media on panel
© 2014 Megan Chapman

In the house you live
12x12" mixed media on panel
© 2014 Megan Chapman

On the brink
12x12" mixed media on panel
© 2014 Megan Chapman

Patch and repair
12x12" mixed media on panel
© 2014 Megan Chapman

To return
12x12" mixed media on panel
© 2014 Megan Chapman

If feels good to be showing the Reconstruction series for the first time in Fayetteville and especially in the historic Walker-Stone house. These 8 works on the panel were the last works I painted in Fayetteville before moving to Scotland. These paintings then went on tour as part of the group exhibition, Abstract ARt, travelling to Kresge Gallery at Lyon College, in Batesville, Arkansas in 2014, The Art Center of the Ozarks in Springdale, Arkansas in 2015, and finally on to the Zarrow Center at The University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2016 before returning home in 2017. I could not be more delighted. This will be the first time my works has been shown in Fayetteville since 2014.

In other exciting news, a recent interview I did with Art Scotland has been published on their gorgeous site. The interview covers a lot of ground and I enjoyed the questions. I hope folks will enjoy reading it and learning more about me and my work.

I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given to introduce myself to the Scottish art scene in the past year, now with interviews/reviews in three smart publications, Portfolio Oomph, SOGO Magazine, and now, Art Scotland. 

It feels good to have my art being seen and written about and out in the world again after some initial growing pains from my transition from the US to Scotland. I hope the momentum continues.

While all of this is going on, my latest series of limited edition prints, The Distillation Process are happily now available for sale exclusively through my Etsy shop, Artmaven. It has been a quiet debut so far but expect to see more of them and hear more of the story behind them, as my social media ramps up. 

I am donating 10% from each sale of this particular series to the Scottish Association for Mental Health. Mental Health affects all of us and it’s time to remove the stigma and help those in need, as well as get help if those in need happen to be ourselves.

That’s all I have for you this week. If you are near Edinburgh I hope you will check out the Union Gallery exhibition and if you are in Northwest Arkansas, I hope you will check out the Fenix and Friends exhibition in Fayetteville.

Life is a strange dance and I am glad to be dancing through it with you. Until next week, keep fighting.

Sogo Magazine!

I needed to buy some varnish this past weekend so off we went to Greyfriar's art supply on Dundas street and there it was... Sogo Magazine!

I was so excited to see the magazine in a rack by the counter with Alasdair Gray's cover drawing. I grabbed a copy to purchase along with my varnish and then decided I better grab two. As soon as I hit the pavement outside the shop, I had a good flip through this beautiful and elegant publication. The reproductions were stunning and the paper was wonderful. Truly a top notch publication, well designed and filled with great art and artists and brilliantly written articles. 

I excitedly read bits of Brian McFie's article, The Beautiful Mind Laid Open, about my work outside on the street to Stewart as we walked on to a nearby pub to celebrate. Stewart took these mobile photos around the corner against a wall on Circus Lane to capture the moment. I was giddy.

I took to social media and shared a quote from the article soon after. I will share it again here along with a few others but truly I hope if you are in Scotland that you will find a copy of the magazine locally or go online and subscribe. It is obvious how hard everyone involved works on Sogo from how much energy, talent and passion is contained within the pages.

This article means more to me than I can properly articulate but simply put, it is what I have been working for all these years and what I will continue to work for. To have my art seen, understood and appreciated in this way is balm for my soul. To have my art written about in this manner in my adopted home of Scotland is just the right kind of fuel for my fire and inspires me to keep going and assures me that I am in the right place, doing the right work. This validation is beyond compare and I am grateful. Thank you to Brian McFie for taking the time to see and engage with my work in this way and for articulating his experience in print.

So here are a few select quotes from Brian McFie's piece that brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. 

"I ventured downstairs and was delighted when confronted by three works on canvas by Megan. Much bolder in real life and just as dynamic as I hoped they would be. The handling of the media employed had a thoroughly informed power behind it."

"The composition was dynamic, the approach searching, it's creator pushing limits and tussling with philosophical, poetic and metaphysical questions and ideas."

"This is difficult territory. One has to be brave to go there. To my mind the name Megan Chapman will eventually be held in as high esteem as Mitchell, Frankenthaler, and De Kooning. (Elaine that is, her work should be held in as high esteem as Willem's). These artists should in turn be revered as much as their male counterparts, Twombly, Motherwell, Rauschenberg and Pollock."

"It is clear to me that this artist, an American, far from home embarked on a journey, which is traveled to this day both inwardly and outwardly. The work speaks to the heart of the heart from the heart. It is a profoundly enriching body of work. As with earth, water and air. Essential."

I held my breath the first time I read a rough draft of this piece. My face turned red. I closed my eyes and blinked to make sure of what I was reading. My work had been seen and understood and the evidence of this was in print. I was understandably floored. 

I have given my life to this calling. It is a hard path at times and doesn't always make that much sense to some (including myself). Sometimes though, something like this article happens and then everything makes sense. I smile to myself and for a little while, I know exactly what I am doing and why. I breathe in this victory, put my headphones back on and get back to work.

"...to the heart, of the heart, from the heart."