Fayetteville Library Hosts Artist Reception | People

Artist Reception for Megan Chapman at the Fayetteville Public Library

On Saturday, August 4th from 3 to 5pm the Fayetteville Public Library will host an artist reception for Megan Chapman and her exhibition, Hush, now on display in the library’s Reading Room through Labor Day.

Megan Chapman's exhibition, Hush, brings together three recent bodies of work into one. Within this exhibition you will find works from the artist's popular series, Sometimes I love you and other stories,  From Across the Ocean and Falling into Sound. All of these works fall under what the artist calls, The White Series that began in 2009 and continues today.

An older manual type writer was used to create the works contained in Sometimes I love you and other stories and From across the ocean. The artist is drawn to the typography as it jumps and sputters, leaving uneven spaces sometimes with red and black ribbon inked words. The words are the artist's own and reflect her thoughts while being in a new long distance relationship with Scottish artist, Stewart Bremner. The canvas paintings from the Sometimes I love you and other stories reflect the artist's longing to be where her partner is and reflect aspects of their relationship broken into three worlds; the imagined, the technology based and finally their meeting in reality.

The framed paper works from Across the Ocean reflect the relationship as it was in Scotland as the artist made her first journey overseas and spent four months in Edinburgh, Scotland at the beginning of the year to be with her partner and are much more grounded in the reality of what she has done to get there and to face her fears of the unknown. The paper works also reflect her surroundings as she takes in this new land. The lines echo the geology of the area, the sea and the atmosphere of the grey winter sky. The paper pieces are evidence of the conversations in the artist's head as she reconciles what she has done to change her life and find herself in this relationship and in Scotland. Simple words, lines, and vintage paper from Her Majesty's Stationary Office that once belonged to Stewart's grandfather are used to stage these moments and hold them in a type of permanence.

Along with the word based and cooler abstractions are also a couple of pieces from Falling into Sound. It is with this series that Megan began the transition into more minimalist work, featuring 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.

Megan Chapman's Hush brings all of these works are together in a new light. A lineage is now easily seen and formed and while the works are quiet, the artist knows that you can hear them. These works are not unlike chapters in a book, each a little different but very much connected and telling a story, not only about the artist but also about yourself.

Megan Chapman was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She received her B.F.A. in painting from the University of Oregon. She has shown her work over the past fifteen years in Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Washington State, Washington D.C., Philadelphia PA, as well as overseas in Liverpool, England and most recently in Edinburgh, Scotland. Chapman's work has appeared in various publications and is held in numerous private collections nationally as well as internationally.