Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Mosholder.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I graduated with an MFA in Painting from the Savannah College of Art in Design remotely in Brooklyn while assisting artist Teresita Fernandez, who I met in France during a study abroad program. Meeting and working with Teresita inspired me to build site-specific installation work. I began working with string as a way to travel and make big, impressive installations on a limited budget. I left school with the idea that I needed to diversify my CV as much as possible to create a financially sustainable art career.
Please tell us about your art.
I am known for my large-scale installation work, which I have built all over the world. These artworks are three-dimensional drawings an individual can enter and become surrounded by linear elements (string, rope, cable) and light. Many of my installations are lit with black light creating a glowing, laser-like sculpture. I began making art installation work with the intention of creating a sociopolitical conversation with my audience because I believe in art’s ability to challenge a viewer’s thoughts and ideas, especially within our current political climate.
Recently, my fascination with specific sites has included the gloaming – otherwise known as twilight – a moment in time when the sun’s rays are defused and scattered by the earth’s atmosphere. It’s is a visually magical time of day, when even the ugliest thing can appear beautifully retooled, painted with lavender light and delicate shadows. It is twilight when I most want to slow down and appreciate my surroundings, wherever I might be. This current obsession is manifesting itself in my work through a series of hand-painted, site-specific installations intended to capture and expose the slow beauty of the gloaming. My artworks are created out of thousands of feet of white twine brushed with an invisible ultraviolet acrylic. I prefer to build these installations in well-daylit environments so the viewer has the opportunity to watch the temporal transformation of white twine to glowing neon color: as the sunlight disappears, the black light is activated and the artwork changes from one form to another, mirroring twilight’s magic. The completed piece is a multi-sensory experience intended to engulf the visual senses and reawaken the simple intrigue of looking.
As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
Success as an artist comes from a fierce self-confidence and the courage to go out into the world and take the risks necessary to be noticed by other art professionals. I have not achieved my artistic success by playing it safe. I have said, “yes” to opportunities that seemed beyond my abilities or resources and made them work through diligence and perseverance. My success largely comes from my community of peers, other artists and creative professionals who support and respect me and my work. Today, I am striving towards developing a creative practice that is financially sustainable. The goal is to eventually use my wealth to support other artists by helping to fund the space and time they need to become successful professionals. I will feel truly successful when I can afford to pay it forward.
To quote Aletta de Wal, a successful artist is one who has:
- Faith: Conviction that they can produce what they envision, sense or get through a higher source.
• Followers: People who like their work enough to buy it or tell others about it.
• Fame: Publicity that draws attention to their work and attracts gallery dealers, art critics, museum curators
and writers.
• Fortune: Income from selling enough work to support themselves comfortably without having any other source of income.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Most of my work has been temporary but I am beginning to install more permanent public artwork. This year I will be installing a gateway sculpture on the newest part of the Beltline here in Atlanta, entitled “Terminus II”, an installation modeled off of the “Terminus” installation I built for the Hambidge Art Auction at the Goat Farm Arts Center in May 2014. “Terminus II” should be completed in time for the Art. Music. Film. Movement (A.M.F.M. Festival) hosted by Art on the Atlanta BeltLine August 8-11 at The Bakery on the Westside Trail in partnership with the National Black Arts Festival’s Next Gen Artists program and in collaboration with Artlanta Gallery. People can support my work by investing in me as an artist, whether that be through direct purchases of two-dimensional artworks (available on my website: meganmosholder.com), commissioning a permanent installation or sharing the artworks they’ve experienced and enjoyed on social media.
Contact Info:
- Website: meganmosholder.com
- Phone: 6464558001
- Email: mcmosholder@gmail.com
- Instagram: meganmosholderart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtistMCM/
Image Credit:
Photos by myself, Danny Ghitis, Silversalt, and Lander Media.
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