Spotlight: Artist Megan Carty

What/who are your artistic influences?

The beauty of the colors, shapes, and lines of nature here in New England influence my mark-making decisions. There is a richness and delicacy found amongst plants from land and sea, for example, that is so fun to try and replicate. Growing up in Maine afforded me a wealth of visual treasures from the ocean to the lakes to draw inspiration from. I love working abstractly and am inspired by other abstract expressionist painters of the past like Joan Mitchell and Willem DeKooning. In art style, I love to look at Japanese prints and the design aesthetic of Scandinavia.

How has your background in the corporate space shaped who you are as an artist?

Coming from a corporate background has shaped me for the client service experience. I value the relationships I make in my life and sharing my work with people is an extension of that. When a collector wants a custom piece of art, I can empathize with their needs and deliver my service in a clear, concise way that makes sense from start to finish. When I worked as a graphic designer, I learned to be part of a team and take guidance from the top down to reach goals. The works I did were for the benefit of the overall vision of the company; not my own. I found that to be creatively stifling after a while and yearned to create work that expressed my own unique vision that others could relate to. Our unexpressed creativity is not benign. It MUST come out and find life. That is the drive that pushed me to become a full-time artist and connect with others through my art.

How has your previous work contributed to your creation of this series?

My previous art started out as traditional landscape paintings of coastal New England. I painted recognizable locations I felt emotionally connected to. However, I didn’t feel the creative fulfillment I hoped for; I longed to use color and brush strokes more expressively. I found that my work didn’t feel like it came from ME and didn’t feel as unique as I wanted it. Once I began to abstract the landscape around me on the canvas, I started to feel that spark of excitement that told me I was moving in the right direction. I was finally adding elements that spoke to ME and made ME feel a certain way. It became less about pleasing others and more about sharing myself.

What limitations/benefits did you find working with ‘Mother Nature’ as a muse?

Working with Mother Nature is awesome, but I DO have a desire to work with bombastic colors that aren’t necessarily found in nature often (I’m looking at YOU neon pink!). Some of my favorite color combinations are inspired by man-made industry like fashion or candy. Even when I work with these wild colors, I can still find a way to bring the lines and shapes from nature back in. Being able to recognize something natural on the canvas adds a sense of comfort and grounding to the painting.

Where/how, if at all, do you draw the line between painting and sculpture?

There are many different viewpoints and answers to this question. My own personal view is that sculpture is when I take a two-dimensional concept and find a way to make it an experience. The interaction with the piece makes all the difference when there is an element of texture or shape in space to consider. There is a more whole-body sensory response compared to just a visual one; and that makes more of an impact. My work is two-dimensional with elements that are reaching out to become three dimensions. It’s a hybrid.

What does your art say about the relationship between artist and nature?

The artist is directly participating with nature to make their work. They are observing light, value, color, line, texture, time, space, emotion, impressions, and memory. Humans are an animalistic species, and we are part of nature whether we like it or not. Part of my job as an artist is to observe what makes nature so impactful, emotional, and meaningful. What is it that makes us travel to beautiful places? What is it about them that grabs at us? These answers are different for everyone, but these are questions I explore and highlight.

Generally, artists use canvases as the medium on which they express their art. In your case, the canvases are part-and-parcel of the painting. What inspired you to de- and reconstruct the canvases themselves?

Part of what makes nature so dynamic are the elements you can’t capture in two dimensions. The direction of the blowing wind, the smell of the air, the feeling of being so small in a vast space are all ideas artists try to capture. The elements that fascinate me are the elevations of land, especially here in New England where it’s very hilly. We have lots of valleys, hills, fields, mountains, cliffs, and the like. It must be so interesting to the birds above! I wanted to make abstracted landscape but do it in a way I hadn’t seen done before. I wanted to work to feel chic and classy, but unique and modern. The idea to drape the canvas into shapes of the terrain came to me in a dream. I was a bird looking down at the earth from far away. Everything was so small, and the rivers looked like intricate fine lines. The lakes looked like small pools. And when I woke up, I was reminded of topographical maps. The elevations of land are depicted in colorful textures you can sometimes touch. My father was a cartographer in the Army back in 1969 and was sent to the war in Vietnam where he made elevation maps of the jungles that front-line soldiers would use. Every peak and valley held serious consequence. I wondered if there was a way to translate the colors and lines of my beloved landscape and present them in a way that could be touched and experienced like a bird? That is how the folding and draping of the canvas came to be.

What does the phrase “abstract landscape” mean to you? How do you think that embodies the series as a whole?

The idea of the “abstract landscape” is where you translate an actual place into a visual poem to express a mood or vibe using colors, lines, textures, and shapes. I am looking at places I love and distilling them down to their colors and moods and presenting them in a new way to the viewer. They are meant to be enjoyed in their simplified way where they can remind you of a certain place that is left to interpretation. This allows many people to think of different places for the same painting and feel nostalgia for them. I’m interested in capturing the essence of the place rather than the visuals of the place. That is what I take with me when I leave.

Your paintings emphasize a blend of both color and texture. How do the sculptural aspects of these paintings contribute to the dynamism of your art?

The sculptural aspects of the paintings allow us to feel like we are floating over a beautiful place to experience it as a bird would. We are so used to seeing the world from the ground looking outward. These pieces are from the sky looking downward which lends itself to a new visual experience. As objects, I want the paintings to feel bright, tailored yet natural, modern, fresh, and architectural. The rippling canvas invites us to step closer and look IN to see what is happening up close. They feel like small worlds of their own where we can escape whenever we’d like. This makes for a wonderful conversation starter for anyone experiencing the art first-hand. Because there is room for interpretation, the work can draw us in and take us on a metaphorical journey to places we remember or wish to go. Instead of the story being told to us, we become the ones telling the story. That sense of participation is what sets this work apart.

This collection of paintings are clearly a celebration of the New England landscape. Where would you place your own compositions within the storied tradition of New England landscapes?

My paintings are definitely a contemporary twist on the old traditional images of New England. My own family history traces back to the early 1700s here in New England; that heritage runs deep. New Englanders are very proud of their heritage; often heralding from hearty pursuits like farming or working the sea. Historically, art in New England focuses on realism and is very narrative. Weathered boats, marshes, seascapes, coastal scenes, forests, farms, lakes…all walks of life have been explored in detail. I have felt the pull to disrupt the status quo. I wanted to highlight what gets ME excited; and that’s the colors and movement of the land and water. The mood and the actual SENSE of place are what I want to capture and highlight. This is a departure from old narrative tradition and ushers in a quieter poetic and emotional perspective.

Especially in a time when our environment is being challenged by human involvement, how do you see your artworks contributing to addressing these issues?

These artworks highlight the very essence of why our natural resources are so important to protect. Humans are used to seeing things from their mundane on-ground perspective and can forget that despite being so small in scale, we have a giant impact on the land around us. We forget the magnificence of what we have, and we forget to appreciate it and feel gratitude for it. We forget to celebrate it. These works are a constant reminder of the richness of beauty around us and how we are a part of the circle of life and must be responsible for our part.

Each painting, in a sense, is an expression of your identity, both artistically and personally. What would you like viewers to understand about you as a person and as an artist? 

I would like viewers to feel my sensitivity and love for others in my work. I want the work to feel uplifting, hopeful, thoughtful, and empowering. I like to say my paintings are cheerleaders in your home what say positive things to you as you walk by. I truly believe we are all valuable and made with everything we need to make an important impact. None of us are perfect and it’s our job to share our lessons with others and help each other. We can best do that by being ourselves, loving ourselves, and accepting ourselves first. I am a deep thinker. I am deeply emotional. I spend a lot of time pondering the important issues of our era as I paint, and I infuse my work with hope, encouragement, and care. I know I’m successful if the viewer can feel that from the work they are connecting with. That spark of connection is what it’s all about and is part of that circle of life we all are part of. I don’t take that lightly.