Megan graduated with a PhD from the University of Tasmania in 2003 and is currently Head of Painting at the Tasmanian School of Art. She is a multidisciplinary artist crossing installation, painting, and paper cutting.
“I decided to come to Tasmanian School of Art because it had a reputation as an exciting alternative to many mainland counterparts, and offered facilities and experiences that other institutions could not. In hindsight, it was the best decision I could have made. I continue to live and work in Tasmania because the community and the University are so incredibly supportive,” Megan said.
“Working with the University allows me to develop future generations of artists - which is an incredibly rewarding experience - at the same time as furthering my research interests. My research focuses on pictorial construction with particular reference to pictorial space and contemporary pictorialism. Within this context I am interested in examining the nature of conflict rising out of dialectical binaries. These binaries are grounded within the ‘everyday’ and include concerns such as tradition and modernity, beauty and terror, love and hate, home and away, nature and culture and language and communication.
“Within my studio practice I re-interpret traditional Chinese and Japanese paper cutting techniques to suggest an ambivalent condition of pictorial construction that also display screening or veiling qualities. I am interested in exploring how unconventional materials, unconventional iconography and non-traditional presentation methodologies add complex layers of content and meaning to folk art traditions.”
Megan has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally since 1999 and has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, as well as residencies in Malaysia, Taiwan, Taipei and Japan. Her work is held in the collections of Artbank, BHP Billiton, Australia, Australian Embassy, Beijing, Hobart City Council, National Gallery of Australia, Pat Corrigan Collection, Rimbun Dahan, Malaysia, Taipei Artists Village, Taiwan, University of Sydney and the University of Tasmania.