By: Chanelle Despins
Middle Stew Reporter
NASHVILLE,
Tenn. – Middle Tennessee State University art professor Meghan O’Connor presented
her current printmaking work at Nashville’s monthly "Art Crawl" on
Dec. 1.
O’Connor,
a 31-year-old artist and professor at MTSU, worked an abundant amount of hours
for the past six months to create a series of her artwork titled
"Inevitable". The theme for her series focused on struggle and
deception. The artist wanted to communicate with her audience how people in
power may abuse their authority. She also wanted to communicate that technology
in our society takes quality intimacy away from our relationships.
I’m
really pleased with having a cohesive body of work,” Meghan said. “I’m really
excited to take this work and show it in other locations.”
O'Connor
used printmaking, woodcutting and lithography techniques in her series. Her
pieces were framed on the walls, and she included one limestone piece that she
printed on. Meghan planned most of her work and sometimes already knew every
element that she wanted to incorporate. However, in some of her prints, she
used monotypes that were more free than planned.
One
source of her inspiration derived from her relationships built with veterans
while helping out at a Veteran’s hospital in Murfreesboro. One of the veterans
she knew passed away and struggled with being taken
advantage of by those who held power at the nursing home. Inevitably, his
struggles led to his death.
One
of her biggest challenges was to include repetition and variety throughout her
work. She feared that every piece would look the same and strove to make each
piece an individual. She incorporated bird and sheep imagery in practically
every piece.
O'Connor's
schedule for the past month was hectic. She spent on average 12 to 15 hours a
day in the studio on top of teaching her classes and an additional eight hours
on weekends. "Inevitable" was successful for her considering that she
received a lot of positive feedback and gained an interest from her audience.
Many people attended the event, and she sold one piece.
She
thoroughly enjoyed it and will look for more opportunities like these in the
future.
“I
can't see myself doing much else until I can’t walk," Meghan said.
"Then when I can’t walk, I’ll be shaking my cane at some minions working
in the studio, paying them to print for me.”
For
more information about Nashville's monthly "Art Crawl", visit http://www.nashvilledowntown.com/play/first-saturday-art-crawl
.
For more
information about Meghan O’Connor and her work, visit http://www.curlymeg88.prosaic.org/ .
###
No comments:
Post a Comment