Today we’d like to introduce you to Morgan Lugo.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I have always been creative, but it took me a long time to actually figure out how to apply my creativity to a tangible form of art. I grew up playing ice hockey religiously. I am sure that the last thing you would expect from a Puerto Rican/Sicilian girl from the south is to be an intense ice hockey goalie, but I was on the ice five days a week for twelve years. I was always on multiple teams and usually playing with all guys. Between sports and school, I never really had a chance to explore my artistic side, but I knew it was in there somewhere. When I graduated from high school I took my hockey scholarship and decided to go to art school. This seemed to be a huge change of gears for me, but I was so excited to make the leap of faith and try something I have never done before. After my first two years of college I thought I had made a terrible mistake, I was floundering in my intro drawing and 2D design classes, nothing seemed to click with me and I felt my passions slipping away and anxieties creeping in. Finally, I took intro to sculpture, followed by ceramics, and then eventually mold making. Everything starting making sense to me — once I got into metal casting it was like my soul had caught back on fire again. I had craved the adrenaline and camaraderie that sports gave me, and this couldn’t have been a more perfect outlet. Metal Sculpture is very much a team sport and something you can’t really do alone. Once I saw my first 500 lb. ladle of molten iron flow, I was completely hooked.
This first contact with metal working was about 4 years ago now. Since I graduated GSU in May of 2015 I have worked at art foundries in the US and Berlin as well as worked as a fabrication welder for a multitude of different projects. I have also done freelance mold making and clay modeling work. I have been officially employed as a full time metalworker/mold maker for about a year in addition to my personal work.
Please tell us about your art.
I am 1000% a sculptor. It took me a long time to find three dimensional work but when I did I was finally able to express myself the way I had always wanted too. 2D work just does not make my brain hit overdrive the way that creating sculpture does. I think and dream in three dimensions, all of my ideas are “in the round” and that is where I thrive. There is nothing more satisfying for me that making my intangible thoughts a tangible reality.
My work is created through a multitude of experimental techniques from mold making, clay sculpting, fabrication welding, assemblage, and metal casting. With my primary focus on metal casting and fabrication. I also am involved in large scale experimental cast metal performance work. This is the work that has brought me to the most “exotic” places, as recently as Germany in early May. It is really fun to be able to utilize the process that I normally use to create my gallery work in such a loose way. The performances feel comparative to “abstract” art for me, whereas my gallery work is much more tight and planned out.
I create this work simply because I love too. I started out making art not really trying to prove anything but really to find an outlet help understand myself better. As my journey has progressed I think things have shifted and changed a little bit. I have fallen into a place where I am proud of the fact that I am able to be a leading light to young females looking to be involved in a male dominated practice. I am a feminine woman excelling in a stereotypically men’s craft, which I now understand holds some weight in the way I can help other women realize their full potential. I am especially excited when I see other Hispanic females breaking barriers and I am happy I can be there for other people going through the struggle of following their path and not the path society has deemed correct for them.
My work has strong influences from dream-state consciousness, the complexities of the internal-self, and the intangible common thread of human experience. Recently I have been focusing on my Future Memories series. Conceptually, these sculptures are made as a physical manifestation of the fleeting moment of experience turning into a memory. Initially inspired by the philosophically unexplainable nature of introspective conscious thought. Furthermore, what a thought might look like as it flows through the molecular structures of the brain turning into a memory. This physical representation of my intangible experience of thought then becomes a tangible experience for the viewer, which ultimately transcends into a new memory for them.
As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
Oh man…. How do I define success? This is something I struggle with a lot because I can be VERY VERY brutally hard on myself (I always have been). Sometimes I do not give myself a chance to appreciate the things I have accomplished long enough to really feel how far I have come. Success really is defined by in individual artist. For me, I feel the most successful after I see new work installed in a gallery or after I hear the crowd of people in awe of a performance. I have moment of extreme pride but I always overshadow the moment with “What’s next?”, “How can I make this better?”, “Time to get back to work”. Of course, when I sell something I feel successful in a monetary way, but it is much more than that. I think for me seeing my career growing and booking onto shows that I couldn’t have gotten a year ago is success to me…. but yet, I am still so hungry. I truly am excited to see where this career will take me.
The characteristics I think are ESSENTIAL to success as an artist are patience, passion, and perseverance. Patience in your craft, patience in yourself, patience in your process and most of all patience in the way your work will communicate with people. Without passion for the work you are making, I am not sure there is even a reason to be making art. Lastly and most importantly, perseverance. This is important for all those rejected proposals and applications, all those times you accidentally broke something and have to start over, all those times you feel like nothing is hitting but you just have to keep pushing, all those times you feel physically and mentally exhausted from working multiple jobs just to keep your dream alive. Have faith the world will see this in you and eventually things will turn around. No one ever said it was going to be easy.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
The best place to see my work and my process is to follow me on Instagram (@morganlugosculpture). I really have a fun time posting progress shots of molten metal and welding. My website (www.morganlugosculpture.com) is a great place to see and read about my finished pieces. Right now I am gearing up for a whole series of new work by October for Art San Diego. As well as involved in the show “In The Belly of the Beast” at Stephen Smith Fine Art in Birmingham, Alabama. I am also really excited to be speaking on a panel “Women in Metal” at this gallery the last weekend of June. In addition I will be having my second showing in Europe this year, I will have a show in Basel, Switzerland this fall. Unfortunately, I do not have any shows in Atlanta at this time. Honestly, I show outside of Atlanta much more often. I hope in the future Atlanta can be a little more welcoming to 3D work, a lot of shows and galleries in this city are primarily interested in 2D work. Which is fine because there are so many great artist out there but I think the community could benefit greatly from diversifying the aesthetic pool a little bit more.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.morganlugosculpture.com
- Email: morgan@morganlugosculpture.com
- Instagram: @morganlugosculpture
Image Credit:
Sarah Stover and Gerhard Haug
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