Before the fire...

Sorry folks no Fire and Noise today.
I do not have power and things are a mess.
But all is well and I can't wait for things to melt.
Until next week, stay safe and warm.
love,
Megan

Megan Chapman: Fire and Noise

EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS BY ARTIST MEGAN CHAPMAN

Little Rock Arkansas– River Market ArtSpace will present Fire and Noise: The Paintings of Megan Chapman, featuring contemporary paintings by one of Northwest Arkansas’s most well-known artists. Opening reception will take place Friday, February 13, from 5-8pm, during downtown’s 2nd Friday Art Night, and the exhibit will run through March 7, 2009.

Megan Chapman's abstract paintings have always been about her love of color, and the subtle changes that occur when colors overlap, react, and create something new. In her latest body of work, "Fire and Noise," Chapman, in addition to using traditional canvas, explores a new surface called a Clayboard. This new surface allows her to scratch into the paint, removing the previous layers while creating lines and new textures. The title of her exhibition, "Fire and Noise," comes from the opening lyric of a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song entitled, "Do You Love Me." The artist was entranced by the dark passionate world created by the song and its video and has developed a body of work that reflects her feelings in response. The color red and other deep dramatic colors feature prominently within this body of work.

Megan Chapman was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She received her B.F.A. in painting from the University of Oregon. Chapman has shown her work over the past ten years in Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington. Her work has appeared in various publications and is held in numerous collections.

River Market ArtSpace, located downtown in the Historic River Market District, is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am – 5pm. ArtSpace proudly represents the best in contemporary art and craft in the state of Arkansas.

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

I have completed twenty new works for my upcoming exhibition. I am currently putting on the finishing touches and preparing them for delivery to the gallery in Little Rock, Arkansas. Next week I hope to have images of all twenty of these works available to post so I can share them with you, my lovely readers. If you have friends in and around the Little Rock area please let them know about my upcoming exhibition. Thanks always for reading and for your support of my work as an artist. It means more to me than you will ever know.

Pictured above on the postcard
The Unheard Music
24x30" Mixed media on Canvas
2008 $725

What is art for? A discourse...

Enjoy or loathe this video compiled by The Art Newspaper. After watching the video, lets have a discussion in the comment section shall we?

What is art for?
Share your personal take on this question or your personal reactions to the video.I will chime in as well.
Major update on Fire and Noise next week!

I remember slam dancing until 2 a.m.

Books...
University of Oregon
BFA terminal project
1999 Megan Chapman
This is one of my favorite books from the past.
(click to read the text)
I can see the foundations.
I can also see how I have started to censor myself too much.

I love you all.
X-Megan

The New...

Happy New Year...2009 is here.

I spent the first day of the new year painting, varnishing, and photographing paintings. I also read a great short story, and watched a fantastic movie. Since I am a Southern girl I also cooked my black eyed peas, greens, and cornbread. I also made sure not to sweep (yes I am a bit superstitious.) So, all in all things are off to a fantastic start. Thanks again to everyone who read and/or commented on my blog last year or last week. Even during the busy holiday week I had some of my highest numbers of readers to date. Thank you- I hope you all enjoyed it and that you will be back.

I had mentioned that one of my goals in the new year was to see more art, and I am happy to report I did go see the wonderful POST SECRET show at Crystal Bridges at the Massey in Bentonville, Arkansas.It is a real thrill that this show has come to the region. They have 450 of some of the best post cards from the post secret collection and if you are in the area or have the opportunity somewhere else to go to a post secret exhibition, I highly recommend it. The secrets are sometimes funny, painful, universal, and even occasionally hard to take, but when I left the show I felt glad to have absorbed it all and felt more human and connected for having done so. I even created my own post secret and left it in the mail box.

My main goal for this month is to wrap up and properly document my work for my exhibition Fire and Noise, that will open in Little Rock, Arkansas on Friday February 13th and close on March 7th at the River Market ArtSpace. I hope those in the area will take note and try to attend, I would love to see you at the reception on the 13th from 5-8pm.

I have thirteen pieces for the show currently, with many more in various states of progress. After all the holiday socializing and family visiting of the past few weeks, I am looking forward to locking myself away and focusing on tying my exhibition together and just painting. This sounds very good to me.I have decided to post the work in progress for Fire and Noise here, I am hoping that by posting these, it will allow me to look at them as a whole and see them as a body of work so that I may either edit them or note things that I can not always see in my crowded studio.

Some of you may have seen some or all of these before...(but this is the first time that all thirteen pieces(so far) of the show have been posted together in one place). Again I wish you great adventures, wonderful art, space and light in this new year.

Ring of Fire

This place inside

On a Monday

Emulsion

Stranger than kindness

The unheard music

At a loss for words

Baptism by fire

Shared mistakes

3 a.m.

To collect sounds

Through water and fire

Not to be undone


and I will close with one of my initial inspirations for this exhibition

"You're more than what some people let you know..."

I hope all my readers had a wonderful holiday yesterday with friends and family. Perhaps you had a few minutes to yourself to just be still with a good song, a dream, a book, anything that makes you happy and that you were all safe and warm.

Time marches on, and this year seemed to go at warp speed. I know we still have some time and I am jumping the gun a bit. I just feel the need to see where I have been before I move into the next year. This may make for boring reading for you, but I hope it will encourage you to really think about all the things you have done with your art/life this past year. I don't care if you are only a part time or sporadic artist, or a seasoned professional. Last year in my post Bravery and the Art of being an Artist , I challenged my readers to set some goals and really go for it in 2008. I know that many of you have really been working hard this year and you deserve to give yourself credit for all your efforts. Sometimes it is easy to disregard your accomplishments unless you write them down. Feel free to post them in the comments or keep them to yourself. I try to keep up with many of you, and I must say how impressed and inspired I have been with your amazing paintings, your promotions, and your shows over this past year.

My 2008...

We will start with some of the negatives...

I dealt with a major rejection last January after my work had been sought out and was considered for reproduction by one of my favorite stores, an international company based in Sweden(you know the one). Going through that long process was a thrill and filled me with hope, confidence, and excitement but also drained me. It looked like it was a "go" right until the end and then it just wasn't. I posted about it vaguely in my blog and said I was going to give myself half a day and some soy ice cream to be really miserable and then just get over it. Ha! If you noticed less "rah rah- you can do it", and more "what is this all about?" in my blog posts this year, I suspect this had something to do with it. It took more than a half day to get over it to say the least. All in all, it was an honor to be considered and I did learn a lot about the process and also how I feel about the business of reproductions.

Last year, I said I was going to enter a particular juried publication, even though I always get rejected, well I entered and I got rejected again! I will probably enter it again this year as well; sometimes we just have to do these things.

Also, two of the galleries that represented my work unfortunately closed this year due to the economy among other things. I was sad that they closed, but like they say "one door closes, another one opens." Thanks for the memories, Gallery Fraga and Remy Fine Art. It was a pleasure to work with you both.

Alright, enough of that.. lets get to the fun stuff.

I didn't get in the one publication but I did get in another. Studio Visit accepted my work, and the reproductions of two of my paintings in that journal were stunning. I was very pleased to be a part of the first issue of that publication. I also received a very nice letter from a stranger who had come across my work in Studio Visit and they shared how my work had moved them and that meant a lot to me. Also because of the Studio Visit publication, I was approached by a company that specializes in reproductions for the hotel and hospitality industry, and was offered a contract to have my work reproduced. This was again a thrill to be sought out, but in the end the contract didn't meet my needs and I passed on the opportunity. I learned a tremendous amount about the reproduction/art licensing industry in 2008, and I am grateful for that knowledge and I hope I will be able to use it in the future. I am now getting pretty good at processing these types of contracts from these experiences. I am also getting pretty good at listening to my gut and making sure I don't jump on every "opportunity" that comes my way.

Another of my goals for 2008 was to submit my work to at least two new galleries for consideration, and I am pleased to report I did fulfill this goal. I submitted my work to two galleries in Atlanta, Georgia, one gallery in Kansas City, Missouri and one gallery in Portland, Oregon.We will see what happens. At the present time, none of these galleries showed me much, if any interest, and I did get one firm rejection but I am putting myself out there and that is part of the game, you can't win them all. One day soon, there will be an opening for my work in these larger markets.

Another positive in 2008 was my newly revamped website, created and updated by myself using iweb on my imac. I am so happy to have a website that is easily updated, that I can managed quickly and easily by myself. I am very proud of myself for taking care of this part of my business.

I had a successful exhibition at the Blue Moon Gallery in Hot Springs in June and July, Evidence of the Disappearance. This show taught me so much about myself, my art, and my need to share the experience with other creative people. I felt that I had been working in a vacuum before this exhibition and it was such a wonderful experience to bounce ideas off fellow artists and receive invaluable feedback and inspiration. I picked up a lot of blog readers during this process as I promoted my work in progress through as many online outlets as possible. I blogged and MySpaced about it, I made youtube videos, I vlogged, pod casted, created an exhibition catalog with blurb.com, and a beautiful postcard. I explored all means available to me in promoting this show. I was very proud of the paintings that were created, and my use of technology to promote and share these paintings. I will always look back on Evidence of the Disappearance as a success and an important time in my life.

I also tried to diversify and offer other services as the economy took a down turn. I offered portfolio reviews for the first time ever, and really enjoyed the opportunity to look through other artist's work and give them feedback or answer their specific questions at an affordable rate. I am still available for this service.For a $25 suggested donation through my paypal button on my blog, I will look at up to 20 images of your work and give you detailed written feedback, note themes or problems or answer your specific questions regarding your work. Artists who have used this service in the past have found it helpful. Contact me for more details.

I also started my own shop at etsy.com called ArtMaven this past September. I have been thrilled with the response to my Etsy shop, and happy to be able to offer people my affordable, one of a kind original small works on paper.I have sold fifty five small works to people all over the country and world since opening my shop. Every time a small piece sells for $25 or $40 it is a thrill and keeps me excited and hopeful while waiting for my larger paintings in the galleries to sell. The galleries that represent my work sold quite a few larger paintings this year as well, and I enjoyed working on several commissions through the galleries as well.

And now as 2008 wraps up I am busy finishing up my next exhibition, Fire and Noise which will open Friday Feburary 13th at the River Market ArtSpace in Little Rock Arkansas. I look forward to seeing this body of work to completion and sharing these works with you all as well as the public that will come to see them.

These are just some of the highlights of 2008, a bit of a mixed bag. A lot of learning, a lot of communicating and making connections, a lot of wonderful and new friendships forged. A lot of 3am wake up calls and many many many paintings of iron oxide, blue, textured atmosphere, lines and shapes. Many great songs played full blast over my headphones while jumping up and down in front of my easel. I want more of all of that in 2009.

I have many more coals in the fire as well, I am currently looking at getting a studio space outside my home and talking to an out of state gallery about a possible show in the Spring. I have some goals planned for the new year as well. I want to take more risks with my work. I want follow up with the galleries I submitted to earlier this year as well as submitting to more galleries this next year. I want to travel more and get out to see more great art in museums and galleries. I also want to keep painting small works and restocking my etsy shop regularly. I want to enter more juried exhibitions like I used to do before I was represented by galleries. These are just a few ideas...

How was your 2008 and what do you have planned for 2009 ?

I wish you the freedom to know your talents and strengths and to be more kind to yourself this year than you were last year. We are all going to get rejected, have slow months, question our work, question ourselves, but just know we are in this together. In the new year when you are painting and it is clicking, when you suddenly feel free and like everything is possible; hold on to that moment. They come and go so fast but those moments are why we do this work. Those flashes keep calling us back to this madness, this amazing life as an artist.

May 2009 be filled with these flashes for us all...


At a loss for words (I wanna be adored)
Mixed media on Canvas
30x30"
copyright 2008
Megan Chapman
Fire and Noise series

Inspirations: There is no end to this...

I was working on a 2008 wrap up post, but I got completely overwhelmed. So I decided to put that on the back burner for now. Sometimes people just want to know what inspires me and I have written several blogs about my inspirations in the past but it has been a while. So here goes... Enjoy...

My number one inspiration over everything is music. If you ask me what inspires my paintings, I am not going to give you another painter's name but the name of a band or a song. If you want to know what bands inspire me, just take a listen to my play list. I have music on all the time from the moment I wake up until I sleep, and sometimes I even sleep to it (mostly in the summer.) Music helps me day dream, tells me stories and makes my life much more exciting and beautiful.Music is my constant companion and friend.

Another major inspiration are the films I watch. I love all types of films but I really love the films of Wong Kar-wai. Such as Chunking Express, In the mood for love, and 2046. If you are not familiar with his films, I highly recommend them. Many of you know that I am also a huge fan of Hal Hartley. Favorites include, Surviving Desire, Henry Fool, and Book of Life. Here is a scene from Book of Life



Next, the books I read. I have been a sporadic reader in the past, but have read considerably more this past year. I have always been a huge fan of Armistead Maupin and have read everything of his. But I found myself in reading lull, I just couldn't find what I was looking for until about a year ago. It turns out I just didn't know where to look. Thanks to a good friend, now I do. The works of Huruki Murakami stir my mind up in the best way. Favorites include, Kafka on the Shore, After Dark, South of the Border West of the Sun, and Sputnik Sweet Heart. After the quake, is a good collection of his short stories to get you started. I also throughly enjoy the books of Douglas Coupland, my favorites so far of his being, The Gum Thief, Girlfriend in a Coma, and Hey Nostradamus. I am also inspired by the blogs that I read, please check my blog roll on the right, and explore some of those that I frequent, you won't be disappointed.

Now to art, you would expect that I am inspired by art and of course I am. Some of these people I admire for their art, others for their business sense or lust for life. Some favorites include:
Basquiat, Hirst, Warhol, Modigliani, Schiele, Rothko, Bacon, Munch, the list could go on and on. Photographers Mann, Woodman and I truly love the works of Robert Polidori in his book Zones of Exclusion: Pripyat and Chernobyl. These photographs are haunting, the colors are lovely and it is amazing to see these places returning to the earth after being abandoned due to the Chernobyl disaster. I highly recommended this book. I found it in my local library, perhaps it is in yours?

I am also inspired by the art that my friends and family produce. Artists in general inspire me, to be an artist is a labor of love and it takes courage. I admire all the artists that are quietly going for it or beating down doors to be seen and heard.

I hope I have turned you on to some new inspirations or that you have gotten to know me just a little bit better. I thank you for reading my blog and sharing some of your precious time with me. It means a lot to me and you all inspire me as well.

If this wasn't enough of my inspirations and you are new to this blog, there are several previous posts you might want to check out.

Inspiration Grab Bag
Six Amazing artists you should know
Rainy Day? Say goodbye to boredom with Fun
What my mind needs