Megan Williamson (Illinois) curriculum vitae
“The nature that inspires me is the nature that has been altered by the human hand. How things grow as a result of either our attention or indifference is something that appears in my work in a variety of ways. The flowers in a still life may come from a hothouse or an overgrown city lot. A landscape can be found in a beautiful private garden or in two trees struggling to grow under an expressway. As an artist, I find the intersection of the inevitable drive of nature to grow, and the effects of man on it, to be a fascinating and an artistically compelling subject. It provides a stage for many stories to be told and hopefully several in the same painting. While I look to the visual world for my inspiration, I also employ many constructs of painting (color theory, composition, etc) to translate what I see in nature into a work of art. In the end I hope to produce artwork that both transcends and is true to the view that inspired it.” |
"I grew up in a big family in an unincorporated village north of Chicago. The suburbs eventually reached and went past us, but we always had gravel roads, well water, no streetlights and no commercial development. I attended Catholic grade school. No art classes until high school and college where I couldn’t get enough of them. I received my BA in art from Knox College and then attended the New York Studio School for two years.
I always loved to draw. Looking back I understand that it was one of my tools for learning. If I could draw it (biology, geometry etc.), I could learn it. When I was 19 I thought that I should try to be an artist when I was young, because if it didn’t work out I’d still have time for another career (excellent 19 year-old logic). So far, I’m still trying. I always say I’ve had a lot of jobs (waiter, chauffeur, working for photographers, etc.) but I have only had one career. My mentor Nick Carone told me what his teacher told him, “Neglect nothing.” My inspiration comes from such a variety of things and places it doesn’t make sense to start a list. I do listen to certain music in the studio. I get taken with the structure of it and at any given time am playing a few CDs over and over. Also, I look at a lot of art in person – from museums to friends’ studios." MW Capacity .Interview with Megan WilliamsonApril 12, 2009 by Chris |
