Hey, Y’all!
I HAVE NEWS!
I am so excited and stressed and excited and generally discombobulated.
I received an email today telling me an interview had been published with Voyage Dallas. It is an online magazine exploring creatives and entrepreneurs in the DFW Metroplex area. The editor saw an Instagram post he liked and contacted me.
Of course, I FORGOT he contacted me and the email was lost- for a season. NOT a strong first impression. I FOUND the email, THEN I FOLLOWED ALL the instructions. I am guessing a lot of artists DON’T follow the instructions so he forgave my delay in returning his first contact. WHEW!
Then I forgot about it again.
Today, while I am FRANTICALLY packing and repacking and trying to figure out what to do in Iceland with 90-100% CHANCE OF RAIN, this encouraging announcement came. YIPPEE!
I promised the rental car lady that I would bring some Texas heat with me. I sure hope I don’t disappoint her. I hope that Jubilee and I have a marvelous time. I am already planning my NEXT trip to Iceland. Y’all check out WOW airlines. The prices are crazy awesome. At least for this offseason when Jubilee and I are going. May and September are offseason.
After Iceland Jubilee and I meet friends in Poland then head to London for a quick visit. Jubilee will meet up with her youth group and I will have two more days in Iceland before heading back to DFW.
I AM SO JAZZED. And frazzled. I travel well. I do NOT prepare for travel well. Every muscle in my body is screaming. I love traveling. It will all be water under the bridge ( AND HOPEFULLY FLOATING AN ICEBERG!) soon.
The article is kinda long. Feel free to skim it (or skip it, just don’t tell me you skipped it!) If you know someone who would be encouraged, send them to my website to read it or pass this missive along. I am trying to grow my business via email and blogging. Can you think of two people who might enjoy my emails? Please ask them to join us on this bumpy journey.
Peace out! Gwen
MAY 23, 2018 http://voyagedallas.com/interview/art-life-gwen-me…
Art & Life with Gwen Meharg
Today we’d like to introduce you to Gwen Meharg.
Gwen, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Like so many artists, I have ALWAYS drawn/created. Sometimes it was paper, sometimes it was the fruit in the bowl next to the telephone back in the olden days when phones were attached to the wall by springy cords. Bananas were a favorite medium. My mother disapproved. I figured it was her fault for leaving the pen or pencil next to the phone with no paper.
My parents were of the mind that if I could not paint like Leonardo then it was a waste of my time and their resources. During high school, I watched a PBS documentary on Georgia O’Keefe. I remember sitting on the olive-green shag carpet in the middle of the living room – crying-tears streaming down my face! It was the first time I was aware of seeing art that looked like what I painted in my dreams. I held the newfound revelation in my heart and went on to earn a BBA and MBA in computer information systems and statistics. My protestant work ethic ruled over my heart, besides, I wanted to wear spiffy power suits and drive a sports car. I wore the power suits, but never got around to the sports car! Beginning my family allowed me to work my way back to art. We modified budget and expectations so that I could quit my job and incorporate art and childrearing into our lives.
I made art and babies. I took classes, read books, and painted like crazy. We made art together, the children and me. Whether they were sitting on my lap or standing by my side, when we made art together we were equal. I was SHOCKED, after twenty-five years, to come out of the mom/artist fog/bliss to discover there was a BUSINESS SIDE TO BEING AN ARTIST! WHO KNEW? Everybody but me, apparently. The last few years I have been studying the business side of being an artist. IT IS TERRIFYING. Terrifying but necessary and now that I feel “armed” with knowledge, this year, 2018, I am beginning to apply what I have learned. Did I mention that it is terrifying? During the learning process, I am continuing my artistic journey, exploring how hope manifests on the canvas (or paper.)
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I have been using abstraction as a voice of hope for since 2005.
Beginning in the late 1990s I did performance paintings as part of worship services. After five years a church elder saw BREAST and another saw TEAR in a painting that had neither. THAT was about THEIR hearts NOT about my art. Preacher-boy said, “Your gifts were no longer welcome here.” WHOAH!
Truth sets captives free.
Free from the constraints of telling other’s story, I turned to abstraction. I really thought I was telling a new story, but I am not. I am telling a story of journey and hope. I often start with a state of chaos and fight my way back to a place of order and beauty. TO me this is the journey of life that none of us escapes. Chaos always-always-always enters the picture. If someone tells you they do not deal with trying circumstances, they are either liars, clueless, or the other shoe just has not yet dropped.
But circumstances do not have to rule over us. Sometimes life stinks. But I am painting the hope that beauty is always possible. I utilize layers to tell the story. The layers capture moments in time and suspends them in space. Sometimes an early mark will remain visible through to the end of the painting. Sometimes a layer will be completely obscured. Each later influence, but no single layer controls the outcome. That is my hope for my life and for the lives of others. That we learn from what has transpired along our journey, but the journey circumstances will not control our choices. Influence, but not control. Hope that the choices we make will resolve into something beautiful.
Sometimes we forget that pretty and beauty are not the same. My paintings are beautiful, but not all of them are pretty. Consider the face of an ancient woman, wrinkled, maybe without teeth. She is NOT pretty, but she is beautiful as her journey is evident in the creases of her face. The joys and the hardships.
I hope that my viewers can see their own journeys in the paintings. It is asking a lot, but it is what I am asking of the art.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
DANG!!! I thought the questions would get easier!
Success is SO HARD! The FIRST question an artist is asked is “Do you sell your work? How much money do you make? Are you a REAL artist?”
It is vital that each artist define self for themselves. I have friends who have taken themselves OUT of the marketing side of art so they can focus on creating. They keep day jobs so that they are free to create their heart’s desire without being influenced by bread and butter money. I have friends who live frugally so they can live from the sales of their art. I have friends who live well off of their art and their gallery networks.
Success. My art keeps evolving and growing stronger. That is success. My network of creative friends has grown by leaps and bounds the past two years. That is success. I have shown more work in more venues in the last two years than in the prior twenty. That is success. IF one’s success as an artist is limited to financial sales, it is limiting. Success as an artist is such a fickle friend. Most of us have to battle with the definition of success on a daily basis. Some of us can cycle through FEELING successful and failure multiple times during a single day. During a single painting session!
For me, I need to continue to grow and I need to sell art. To speak for others is beyond my pay grade.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I have a beautiful website, www.GwenMeharg.com.
And a blog. The blog dallies with life and art. They are the same thing for me. Each informs the other. Sometimes it is funny. I am not shy on paper and I prefer writing to small talk. I don’t write often, but when I do I put my who heart into it and I don’t think anyone would be sorry. And unsubscribing is super easy. OH! I would be thrilled to have people join my blog: http://www.blog.gwenmeharg.com/
Social media includes:
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/gwenmehargart/?ref=br_rs
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/gwenmeharg/
How can people support my work?
Well, I am looking for ways to share my art and to move it out into the world. At 57 the entrepreneur learning curve has been steep but I am softening to the idea that I am a business woman AND being a business woman is just PART of being an artist. I am embracing the disciplines of entrepreneur and learning how to make them my own. If you know someone who has a space that is looking for transformation, send them to my website. Anyone longing to create a space for dreams to manifest, for stories to unfold, for hope to be ignited, I can help. Art transforms a space, art creates a sacred place for beauty to speak truth and hope. And if my art is not the ticket, I may be able to point them in a different direction. The artist community in the Metroplex is growing closer and, for the most part, we are supportive of each other. By working as a community, we are all stronger. Life is short. Too short to invest only in the practical. Sometimes we need to invest in the essential, in beauty, in our hearts.
Art is a tool for heart investment.
Contact Info:
- Address: Gwen Meharg
521 Grace Cozby Dr,
Fort Worth, TX 76126 - Website: www.GwenMeharg.com
- Phone: 18178326952
- Email: Gwen@GwenMeharg.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gwenmeharg/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gwenmehargart/?ref=br_rs
Image Credit:
Portraits by Ruth Cathering Meharg
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
