a strange gift to care

a coldness, mixed media on canvas, 2024 © Megan Chapman

Interpol released a new album at around 6 am my time and I was there listening in the dark of morning. A 54 year old grown-ass woman, transfixed. 

I was transported to my childhood bedroom - where I was again listening to a new record. First side, any repeats? Play those a few more times, get to know them. Then flip it and find a gem or two and then flip it back and listen again. Find the grooves - the patterns and paths inside the music. Get lost in the story of the lyrics on the sleeve, and then the visuals. Usually, I would favour one side over the other and then after a week or so things would come together and I would have a complete picture of the new album. 

Like a detective looking for clues, it was an embodied experience - intense musical frisson. I am grateful to be so completely entranced by sound. 

I have already found my first repeater of the day on Interpol's new album, This Mirror Weighs a Ton. Wounded Soldier plays over and over on my big head phones. The vocal's edge, the lyrics and rhythm pull me along and keep me hooked.

I have written about Interpol and what their music means to me and my art, and how it has shown up in my life throughout the 19 years of this blog. It's a wonderful and strange gift to care so much about this band. 

On this perfect grey and rainy morning, I put sugar in my tea in celebration.

The week after...

Tie a Stone to my heart and watch it sink
mixed media on canvas
20x16" Sold

It has been about a week since Falling into Sound opened at the Hive Gallery at the Fayetteville Underground. It has been a quiet time, time for reflection on the work and the reactions the work has been getting. This past Saturday I gave an informal lecture to a group of university students studying with artist Cindy Wiseman. I really enjoyed the experience, they were a wonderful group of students. We talked for a long time in the hive gallery and then we moved on to my studio briefly. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday.

Viewers seem to have been touched by the work, especially a manual for living. The comment book has been a very interesting and sometimes deeply poignant read. People seem to be responding in a very personal way to Manual and several other the pieces in the exhibition. I am honored that my work seems to touch people. I hope more people will come down and experience the complete body of work as it is currently being shown at the Hive gallery. The exhibition will remain up through November 27. Gallery hours are 12-7 W-F and Sat 10-5. I would love to speak to more classes, groups, or interested individuals about my work. Please email megancha@gmail.com if you would like to set up a time to meet and discuss the work in person at the gallery.

My studio is strangely empty, I started working on some small works on paper and I mailed two paintings off to their destinations this week. One headed to the Washington D.C. area and one to Edinburgh, Scotland. I can't wait for my dear patrons to receive their paintings! I sold an earlier work from a different series to another patron in Liverpool, England this week as well- a piece that was shown at the Aaron Gallery Small Works exhibition that was held last year in Washington D.C. I am looking forward to shipping that small work this week as well. So, this week was also about the tidying up of loose ends and working for the Underground. I also attended another local art event, Art Amiss and took some time to reconnect with some old friends. I was also contacted about possibly mentoring a high school student who is currently in an advanced placement art class. I think we will paint together soon. I am looking forward to the experience.

Today, I spent time in the studio knowing that I just wanted to read a book. Sometimes, I just want to spend time in and around my studio, but I know I don't really plan to work. So, I hung around, talked with my studio mates, read books and looked at a few art magazines. On my way home the sky was grey and the trees were on fire and really popped against the sky. I really enjoyed the colors and the cool air. It felt so good to see and really pay attention to the Autumn.

a taste of autumn

snap shot on the way home from the grocery store

Until next week. You know what to do... Keep Fighting!
Update: The painting featured above sold today!

The day after...

We will sink to the bottom of the ocean together
30x24" Mixed Media on Canvas
$800

As most of you know, last night was the opening of Falling into Sound at the Fayetteville Underground in the Hive Gallery. It was an interesting day. I had mixed emotions as I was preparing to attend the opening. If I am honest a wave of sadness washed over me. So, I took a long walk around my favorite park and I lay in the sun supported by the warm grass. I just listened to the voices in my head, the worried self talk, doubt, pride, hope, all those different voices coming at me. Then I spent the rest of my day cleaning my house and listening to music, just going about my regular routine as if nothing in particular was happening later that day. Soon enough it was time to head to the show. I cued up a special Interpol song for the short drive to the studio and I was ready.

The crowds were great, and it was lovely to see so many friends and patrons out enjoying all the exhibitions at the Underground. The sadness I had felt earlier in the day seemed to wash away. I think the sadness was a mix of fear and just the release of giving up this body of work to the world. I have been enveloped by these pieces practically all year. There is a letting go, a realization that the work is now done and that there is nothing left to work on.

I wonder what my work will look like after this exhibition. I wonder how it will feel to paint again after the show. I know there will be a lull and then I will work again. Will it be a continuation? Perhaps, but I think I may ease back into it by painting some smaller quicker works to finally restock my etsy shop. That is my goal for the next month (it has been my goal for awhile now) to get my shop stocked and ready for Christmas, and then to prepare for some holiday small works shows as well.

Right now, I feel like I just need some time off to absorb what I have just accomplished. This was my eighteenth solo show in the fifteen years I have been showing my art. I am very proud of this body of work, this show, and how all the pieces fit together.

It was a wonderful opening night. I hope more people will come during the quieter gallery hours to absorb the works and join me in falling into sound...

Thank you for your friendship and support.

Falling into Sound: Hive Gallery from Megan Chapman on Vimeo.

Falling into Sound
Megan Chapman
Hive Gallery
Nov. 3-27th
Fayetteville Underground
1 East Center
Fayetteville Arkansas
Gallery Hours: W-F 12-7 and Sat 10-5

In other news: I was interviewed by my local National Public Radio station KUAF about the Underground and my exhibition along with another studio mate. Click on the link to listen.

Falling into Sound: Opens Next Week November 4th.

You can just watch the video or you can read below or both, or just look at the pictures. This week at the studio blog you have options....

Falling into Sound: The Vlog from Megan Chapman on Vimeo.

If you are a regular to this blog or a friend of mine, you probably know that I have an upcoming exhibition that opens next week. (especially if you just watched that video) But, just in case some of you don't know this, I think it bears repeating. My exhibition Falling into Sound will be held November 3-27 in the Hive Gallery at the Fayetteville Underground. The opening reception will be held First Thursday November 4th from 5-8pm. Regular gallery hours are W-F 12-7pm and Saturday 10-5pm.

For those of you who can make it, I look forward to sharing my latest works with you. These are all new works created in 2010. I will be showing eleven new works on canvas and the Manual for Living: A ten page guide, which are works on paper. Here is a recap of the remaining available works. Please contact me via email, megancha@gmail.com if you are interesting in purchasing any of these works through the Fayetteville Underground.

We will sink to the bottom of the ocean together
30x24" $800
©2010 Megan Chapman

A Certain Trajectory
24x30" $800
© 2010 Megan Chapman

Everything feels prehistoric (when we crash down to earth)
30x24" $800
© 2010 Megan Chapman

Falling into Sound
40x30" $1,350
© 2010 Megan Chapman

Something Quiet
20x16" $425
© 2010 Megan Chapman

Sometimes
30x40" $1,350
© 2010 Megan Chapman

Dispensing old memory
16x20" Sold
© 2010 Megan Chapman

things fall away (as we go under)
30x40" $1,350
© 2010 Megan Chapman

when I close my eyes
16x20" $425
© 2010 Megan Chapman

tie a stone to my heart and watch it sink
20x16" Sold

© 2010 Megan Chapman

you will find me here (at the end of the line)
©2010 Megan Chapman
30x24" $800

And for those of you who would enjoy a review of the Manual for living: A ten page guide.

a manual for living: a ten page guide from Megan Chapman on Vimeo.

I am looking forward to the exhibition. For more information about my work you can also visit my website. I will keep you posted and let you know how the opening goes next week. Thanks for your continued support and interest in my work. I am grateful.

In other news...

my work installed, First National Bank, Berryville Arkansas
Images courtesy of Julie Wait Designs

This week, I want to share the snap shots of the 5 paintings that are now in the collection of The First National Bank of Berryville, Arkansas. I was thrilled when Julie Wait Designs contacted me again and wanted to use my work in one of their firm's design projects. Julie Wait Designs also used six of my paintings in the offices of Legacy National Bank in Springdale, Arkansas several years ago. I love it when local designers, use local art in local businesses. It is just a win-win all around. I am always grateful to have my work remembered for projects, and enjoy working with designers, and seeing how my art fits in corporate collections as well as in private ones.

In other news, I am making last minute preparations for my exhibition, Falling into Sound to be held in the Hive Gallery at the Fayetteville Underground. I am excited to show in the Fayetteville Underground, especially after curating several other exhibitions in the Hive gallery. I am interested to see how my own work will look and transform the space. My new business cards and post cards will arrive this week, and then there will be the framing of the Manual for Living to attend to and the printing up of my statement and all the other little bits that come together to create a show. My exhibition will consist of eleven paintings on canvas and the ten page manual. All the work will be for sale, and I really look forward to seeing this body of work all together as a cohesive whole and talking with people about the work.

Falling into Sound
Hive Gallery
Fayetteville Underground
November 3-27, 2010.
Opening Reception First Thursday November 4 from 5-8pm

a manual for living: a ten page guide from Megan Chapman on Vimeo.

I hope you have a great week. More about Falling into Sound next week!! As always, keep fighting...and if you are local, mark your calendar for November 4th from 5-8pm.

Falling into Sound: November 2010

Click above to visit my newly updated website

Megan Chapman
Falling into Sound
Hive Gallery
Fayetteville Underground
November 3-27 2010
Opening Reception: First Thursday Nov 4th 5-8pm

Megan Chapman's exhibition Falling into Sound features all new work created during 2010. Falling into Sound will debut in the Hive Gallery at the Fayetteville Underground during the month of November. Megan Chapman is better known for her richly colored mixed media paintings on canvas and paper, while this work is more minimalist in nature, with a near monochromatic palette comprised of various tones of dark charcoal, translucent shades of blue, yellow, rust, and the occasional flash of green. As the title suggests, Chapman's works are greatly influenced by the music she listens to while painting. These paintings are quiet and meditative but also buzzing with layers of subtle colors and texture. Along with her works on canvas, Chapman will be showing the Manual for Living : A ten page guide. This "book" will never be bound but will be shown in sequential order, always to remain together. Each page its own chapter, the viewer will “read” this work starting with the wordless prologue, the eight pages in between with their text, and concluding with a wordless epilogue.This work explores themes of love and loss mixed into a poetry of longing.

Megan Chapman was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She received her B.F.A. in painting from the University of Oregon. Chapman has shown her paintings over the past fifteen years in galleries in Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington State and Washington D.C. Most recently a collaborative painting by Chapman was exhibited in the Liverpool Independents Biennial in Liverpool England. Chapman's work has appeared in various publications and is held in numerous private collections nationally as well as internationally.

For more information about her work please visit her website www.meganchapman.com

We will sink to the bottom of the ocean together
30x24" Mixed Media on Canvas
© 2010 Megan Chapman

Putting out fires...

detail: work in progress
(subject to major changes)

And again my work suffers. It's been a while hasn't it? Not having anything new to show is making writing this blog uncomfortable, but this is how it rolls sometimes. I produce a lot of work in a years time, and sometimes there are lulls. Here we have a nicely documented lull. But, I am doing other things that are important for my art career in the meantime.

I am very excited to report I just sold 5 paintings to a new corporate client, a bank. So, this week I had to deliver the works to the interior designer who chose my work for her project. This is very exciting, and I am thrilled to be remembered when it comes to using my work. This interior designer had used my work in another bank several years ago. I did other odds and ends, not only for myself but for my fellow studio mates, and for the studios where I work. It was a lively week, and I did manage to paint, just not to a point where it is done. Today, may be the day. If I can really focus on the painting I might be able to make it come together, if not I may have to start a smaller painting, just so I can feel the satisfaction of something clicking and of completion. I also really need to restock my Etsy shop- perhaps I should move on to some small paper works. (I forgot about this trick to help me get past lulls, glad I just remembered!)

I can't believe it is already October! Sorry I just had to put that out there. In other news, I am of course enjoying the fall, the light, the cooler temperature, the strange nostalgic hope that it brings to me. I am enjoying my house more than I have in a while and re-grounding to my life. That sounds fluffy and strange, but I lost myself for a while in my art and escaping, and while my art might be taking a back seat in this moment, my mind and body are grateful to touch the earth. I am a bit of a workaholic, people pleaser, and (something else I can't remember) and I can be all these things to the detriment of my health and well being. So I am trying to back off a little bit or at least be more mindful.

Anyway, this post seems rather disjointed and probably too honest. I remember when this blog was all "rah rah rah you can do this and here's how," and now it has turned more inward to me and what I am doing, this may be why I have lost readers. I think we are all looking for someone to tell us what to do, how to do it, and also to give us praise for what we are doing. But, I've already done that here.

All I know is that making art is central to who I am, and I will continue to walk this path and I am grateful to all my patrons, teachers, mentors, muses, friends, and family who have supported me on this journey.

I predict a renaissance this Fall. I just have to be patient.

Note to self: Four weeks until my exhibition Falling into Sound to be held in the Hive Gallery, Fayetteville Underground.