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Working in a range of mediums including soft sculpture, installation, embroidery and drawings Megan’s work takes us on a journey through the pop culture stratosphere. Comic books, punk rock music, science fiction and technology all serve to inspire this modern artist.
The Fucking Crap of Life is fun, youthful and has a distinct element of design and youth culture. What were some of your inspirations in making this work?
I live in Highland Park and there are a lot of 99cent stores around here. There is also a lot of trash. I read somewhere that the average person today sees the same amount of visual information in one day that someone from the Victorian era saw in an entire lifetime. This really freaks me out! On the other hand there is a lot of pleasure to be found in all this visual information. I think I am just trying to process it all and create familiarity and friendliness in the details of the 21st century. I consider myself a rueful “pop artist”.
What was your childhood like, did you have an artistic family?
Yes and no. My dad is a bio-physicist who used to draw tiny on/off switches on our legos before Lego made stickers with instrument panels on them. My mom is a Quaker who makes all her own clothes and all in the same pattern. When I was 4 my parents rented a house that had been a pre-school. It had a “rec” room and an “arts & craft” room. This was my first studio. I made giant, jointed paper dolls out of manila folders and wrote and illustrated tiny romance novels for my dollhouse. I watched Mork and Mindy and played Wonder Twins with my brothers. We moved around a lot and they were my best friends.
You studied and got your MFA at University of New Orleans are you from the south and if so, how does that affect your artistic process?