Today we’d like to introduce you to Meredith Mejerle Rush.
Meredith Mejerle, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Art had always been a passion of mine at a very early age. Thankfully my parents encouraged this interest while I was an adolescent and through early adulthood. It only took one journalism class in college to show me how little interest I had in becoming a “fashion journalist” and I couldn’t have switched to art quick enough. After the dean continuously reminding me it would add on three semesters to my college education, I changed from journalism and fashion merchandising to Art.
I studied photography, drawing, and printmaking but felt deeply connected at the time to the tactile process of film photography, developing and printing in a dark room. During college, I needed a creative internship where I oddly ended up interning for Amy Osaba in Atlanta after multiple photographers refused my interest in interning. Two years later, I ended up working full time as a designer and Art Director for the company. After five years of working with AO, I decided it was time to refocus my passion hence me landing back in to the fine art world. Floral line drawings (what I focus on now) embodied the organic lines and tactile experience I had always been drawn too. Finding those hidden details and creating an intimate experience while viewing art has been a vital aspect to my art as it evolves.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I create minimal floral line drawings using ink, charcoal, pastel, watercolor, and anything else I can find on paper and canvas. I have also begun doing large scale installs to be like a hand painted wallpaper mural. I had always been drawn to florals and their organic lines so I began to dissect simplify their lines to show the shapes we tend to overlook. I enjoy creating a quiet, yet impactful experience while viewing my work. We tend to be so busy and looking for more and bigger and better and I want to create a space where people can be quiet and appreciate things we walk by every day. The more we are exposed to things, we become desensitized to their beauty and details. Acknowledging those fine details and creating a nose to nose experience is what brings me most joy.
Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
I think some of the best advice I have been given is to continue to make regardless if it is “bad art” or “good art.’ I can’t tell you how many pieces I have sitting in a drawer or a closet I have labeled “bad” and found a way to appreciate as is or continue to push to the piece into something I am genuinely proud of. I also want to encourage people to remember we all start out somewhere and have to work our way up. No matter how many pieces an artist continues to create is not a measure of their success. Success mean different things to different people. Defining what success means to you is such a liberating thing to identify. If success is breaking a certain sales goal (success is not always financially driven!) or working with a certain client, the most important thing is finding how you are going to make that happen. Don’t compare your success to what you believe others success appears to be.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
Currently, most of my work can be viewed on my website www.meremejerle.com or on my Instagram. A selection is available at Dixon Rye on the west side amongst other extremely talented artists! I’m also always up for visitors in my studio!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.meremejerle.com
- Email: mmejerle@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meredithmejerle/
Image Credit:
Haley Sheffield ( line drawing of flowers in hand in picture).
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