Artist Interview: Megan Fatharly

I'm a curious type; I like to know what informs an artist. Who or what do they look to for inspiration? How do they work? Each month I will be asking an artist I admire a few questions, first up is Megan Fatharly.

Artist Interview: Meg Fatharly

Megan, I've been following your work for some years now, one of the things that impresses me most is your willingness to experiment with different mediums in your art practice, would you say that experimentation is important to you?

Experimentation is fundamental within my practice. It's what keeps my creative energy engaged. I think there is a willingness but it is more of a need to experiment with different materials to really understand them and incorporate them into my visual language and practice if appropriate. When people ask how and why I experiment so much, it's only really then that I actually think about how it impacts my way of working. I have a curious mind and art helps me learn and see the world in my own way. In recent months I've been playing (dabbling) in ceramics and working with incorporating digital laser cut elements to my work. I think it's so important to not let the fear of something not working out stop you from experimenting. It's a constant dialogue between my way of making and the material I'm using.

Artist Interview: Meg Fatharly - Etching And Laser Cut Experiment

Artist Interview: Meg Fatharly - Etching And Laser Cut Experiment

What draws you to printmaking in particular?

I have always been interested in using materials in combination with each other to manipulate them and change how they are perceived. This means at times I can get so engrossed in working I become manic. I first found printmaking in my foundation and was introduced to it through my tutor at the time (John Howard) and the technicians who were very patient with my constant questions about the process. Printmaking is a methodical process with a clear step by step process and from that the maker or artist can manipulate it in their own way. Printmaking slows me down, it has enabled me to really learn and adapt the process to my own way of seeing and working. I get excited by the process everyday and will often spend many hours in the studio experimenting and just enjoying the process. The smells, the environment of a workshop is where I thrive because the process is physical and conversational. There is a certain element of control that I am able to change.

You are currently studying BA (hons) Drawing at Falmouth University, what is it about Cornwall that drew you to study there?

I was born and brought up in Edinburgh and North Berwick which is by the sea. I think ultimately this is why I stayed after doing my foundation year at Falmouth. I wasn't going to originally. I was destined for LCA to do Surface and Textile Design. Falmouth is a small town dominated by students but has a creative scene. The pace of life here has done me wonders as someone who is always doing. I think a place like London would really take it out of me as I would clash with the faster way of life.

I'm an avid outdoor walker and sea swimmer and being by the sea means I can do this all year round. While Falmouth is where I live and study, I find it difficult to be somewhere so small because of how it's changed in the last 4 years. I love places like Lizard as I have wonderful memories of walking and drawing with my dad.
 

Artist Interview: Meg Fatharly - Detail Of An Etching 

What artists (living or dead) inspire you?

Ian Hodgson - his output and consistency is genuine but each piece has so many emotive qualities.

Kayleigh Harris - a fellow BA drawing student whose interests and practice is similar to mine. On our course it can be sometimes difficult to justify our more ambiguous and process led work. She was always there to talk to in times of doubt (and still is). Her work and fascination with line is so exciting.

Rosanna Martin - who is a ceramicist and rock appreciator. For the last 5 months I've been working and learning basic ceramic and clay skills from her. Her ability to create tactile and colourful works makes me excited to continue playing with the material. She's given me a new space to explore a new process.

Joseph Beuys, will always be an artist who changed how I saw things. I first saw his work in Berlin and was struck at his narrative with material. I'm itching to get back to Berlin soon. The architecture and lines of the city really inspire me.

Instagram is a great creative space for finding and talking to new creatives.

Tell me about your studio or creative space.

My studio consists of stuff piled up in an organised chaos. I am a messy person and this is reflected in how I see things and am quite sporadic as a person. I often work very quickly so make a lot of work which I make to fulfil anxious energy but it often gets lost amongst the jungle of paper stacks. I need to get better at looking back at work I've made in the past and reflecting on how certain elements could be moved forward.

My desk is probably more of a dumping ground for work and I need to utilise it better. I don't like working at a desk, the floor or standing in the print room seems to do me fine.

Artist Interview: Meg Fatharly - Detail Of A Drawing

Artist Interview: Meg Fatharly - Detail Of A Drawing

You travel a lot, sometimes it seems like you're always aboard a train on your way somewhere, is travel important to you in life or your art practice?

It's so important. I love to explore new places and get so stimulated by the outside world. On trains I've formed projects where I leave art for people to find and engage with which has changed the nature of how my work is communicated. It's more intimate and interesting. I also make and leave sketchbooks to encourage drawing and mark making. I use Instagram to document my art and travels and it's given me a community I can explore not just on my own.

Also, I'm a fidget so always being on the go feeds my energy.

What aspirations do you have for the future?

I don't know to be honest. I'm hoping that my degree show work is picked up or appreciated by people who will allow me to continue my creative journey. I'm terrified about graduating and losing facilities like the print room which is a second home to me. I think come the degree show it will be about adapting and embracing opportunities and people who see something in me.

Finally, where can people follow your work? 

@meganfatharly on Instagram
@megasinegg on Twitter
@Behave.Collective on Instagram

Up coming exhibitions: degree shows @ Falmouth from May 19th 2018.

Thank you to Megan for being my very first interviewee, I think we can all wish Megan the best of luck in her upcoming degree show and future as an artist. If you would like to support Megan and her practice then give her a follow on social media and start a conversation with her. It really does make a huge difference knowing that there are people out there rooting for you, especially when you are a recent graduate. 

If you'd like to take part in my artist interviews series then please do get in touch at claireleanneleach@gmail.com. 

If you enjoyed reading then please click the heart at the bottom, share or better still leave me a comment, I love reading them. ❤️

I’m An Artist

What Makes Someone An Artist? 

“I’m an artist.”

It took me a really long time to own that sentence. I'm nearly 30, I have a BA degree and an MA degree both in Fine Art and yet I still cringed when people asked what I did; 'I work as a temp in an office, oh and I make drawings'. I thought that if I said 'I'm an artist' then they'd have an assumption about me, maybe that I was a bit pretentious or snobby or that I was pretending to be better than I am. This frame of mind may have something to do with my working class background. On my maternal side my nanny is a school caretaker, my grandad is a retired scaffolder turned chicken farmer. On my paternal side, my grandfather was a dairy farmer and my grandmother who died a decade before I was born was a homemaker as far as I know. My aunties and uncles are lorry drivers, cleaners, warehouse workers and grass cutters for the council. My mum works as a packer and my dad as a mechanic and workshop manager. All are jobs that are vital and keep the world ticking over but don’t involve an element of creativity.  Put bluntly, as far as I know no-one in my family is or was artistic. I have no idea where my appreciation of art comes from; I had no one teaching me how to draw when I was younger, no one took me to an art exhibition or encouraged me to follow an artistic path. In my family and in many others; art is not a necessity, it’s a past time, a hobby and being an artist is not useful. 

When I was little I went through the usual phases of wanting to be a variety of different things when I grew up. I wanted to be a teacher so I could write on the white board whenever I wanted, I liked the idea of being a vet because I loved animals so much, my dad was in the army and I was outdoorsy so I wanted to be a soldier at one time too. When I reached the end of school I decided to take A-Levels including ceramics and photography, not for any career prospects but because I hadn't studied them before and they sounded fun. Whilst studying my A-Levels I went to New York City as part of an art college trip and fell head over heels in love with everything I saw that was art related. The galleries in Chelsea, the artefacts and abstract expressionist paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and especially seeing Monet's Water Lily triptych in the MoMA. Hypnotised by the colours and scale of the painting I was entranced and suddenly knew that I wanted art to always be part of my life. After my A-Levels I did a year-long foundation degree at another local college where painting became my favoured medium of expression. Having relished the idea that with fine art you have free-reign to 'do whatever' I decided to do a BA in Fine Art. I wasn't the brightest in the group, nor the most talented. I didn't really know how to get the best grades either, I just experimented. I splattered paint and used charcoal, I focussed my efforts on the human form and then landscapes. I left university with a passion for drawing.

After a period of time working in non art related roles and travelling I returned to university to study an MA in Fine Art. I saved hard so that I could work on my art uninterrupted for a whole year with no uninspiring temp job getting in the way of my practice. My MA degree was an awakening, led by a tutor who believed that life will always trump art, I felt out of my depth intellectually but enjoyed being surrounded by difference. The course was made up of mostly Chinese students, with two Indian girls and a boy from Thailand who came to be my best friend on the course. I'd been to China and Thailand and I felt a sense of companionship with the international students. Artists visited and spoke to us; I realised that artists are just regular people who perhaps see the world in a different way and aren't afraid to put their way of seeing and thinking out into the world. My assumption that artists had to be a certain way was smashed. I'd thought that you had to be working on your art 24/7 to be a real artist or that you had to exhibit several times a year, or that by being an artist you were a serious sort of person. As time has gone on I've realised that all artists feel self doubt or anxiety at some stage or another about their work, all artists are human. I left the MA with more exhibiting experience and a little more confidence in myself. That was in 2014 and still despite the new qualification I was still a nervous artist, shrugging off my practice when anyone asked about it like it was no big deal. I didn't want to be made fun of, even though in reality my art was everything to me. I saved up and travelled again, for longer this time and had even more time to think about what art meant to me and what I wanted to do. I had to write my occupation on custom forms and I started writing 'artist'. It was the first time that I properly embraced it. I make drawings, I show people those drawings by posting them on social media and by exhibiting when I can even if it's not often. I think about my work all the time, every day. When I look up at a cloudy sky I see the work of Turner in my mind, when I write in my neat and precise way I think of Tracey Emin and how her handwriting in its scratchy and messy manner is so at odds with mine. 

I don't think that my BA or MA degrees in Fine Art are what gives me the right to call myself an artist, they are just qualifications I'm lucky to have because I was privileged enough to choose what I wanted to do at university. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud to have studied Fine Art for four years but you don’t need a qualification to be an artist. I call myself an artist because it is what’s in my heart, I identify with it. I see the world in an interesting way sometimes and I have a fierce passion for it. Art is everywhere. A paint splash on a wall can sing to me much more than an exhibition of Damien Hirst sculptures. I can't name you all the artists of the renaissance but I have studied the surface of a Cy Twombly painting until my eyes went fuzzy. My work doesn't sell out as soon as it hits my online shop but the process of creating the work gives me enough satisfaction and happiness without the association of money. So, what I'm trying to say in another 'classic Claire' rambling piece of writing is this; calling yourself an artist is your prerogative. It is not up to someone else to define you. If you like to draw then perhaps you are an artist. If you write poetry, dribble paint on canvas, create music or study the details of the human form in weekly life drawing classes then perhaps you are an artist. 

If art in any form speaks to you and you yourself create then perhaps you are an artist. If you think you are then own the phrase, tell people proudly when they ask and don't let other peoples preconceptions about what an artist is or does limit you and your thinking. Only recently have I learned to embrace the title ‘artist’ and feel brave enough to say ‘I’m an artist’ when asked what I do, it’s an uplifting feeling to acknowledge it, I only hope my bravery stays around and that my confidence only ever grows. 

So, what do you think? I was nervous writing this one, because I feel completely unqualified to tell people what it means to be an artist, it is different to a lot of people. But, this piece of writing is here to explain my story and how I came to embrace the title and I want you to feel confident embracing it too if it speaks to you. Let me know in the comments below if you call yourself an artist and if you've always felt comfortable doing so, perhaps you're someone who thinks like an artist but isn't brave enough to own the title yet, thats ok, I'd like to hear from you.

If you enjoyed reading then please click the heart at the bottom, share or better still leave me a comment, I love reading them. ❤️

Celebrate Your Success

Selling A Drawing And Feeling That Buzz Of Excitement  

The start of the year was tough. Like many I wasn't filled with excitement for the new year ahead, more a feeling of anxiousness and a worry that I was somehow failing at life. I'd had an exciting 2016/17 and now had to face facts, the money I'd saved had gone and in order to support myself I'd have to go out and get a job. I couldn't work out if I'd made a mistake by abstaining from the 'job hunt' for so long, now the idea of returning to employment filled me with a rush of queasiness; I felt a distinct knot in my tummy and a flush of red to my cheeks every time the thought entered my mind. Over the past five months I'd cultivated a life that suited me down to the ground. I'd wake up when I felt ready, eat breakfast and drink tea leisurely before getting started with a drawing in my makeshift studio. I'd write a little bit or record a video for Instagram. I'd sit in the quiet listening to the starlings fight over the last of the sour grapes on the vine outside and contemplate what I was going to make next for my next exhibition. I liked working alone. Having no one else to answer to and no small talk to make around a coffee station was ideal. Every action I took in a day was down to me, I wasn't working to anyone else's schedule or fulfilling anyone else's dream. I was doing things for myself. To know that my luxurious existence was coming to a close was difficult. 

I didn't handle this idea of change very well. I felt teary a lot and resentful that others got to live their dream and I didn't. I knew that my circumstances were completely different to those I felt jealous of too, they'd worked hard for years to get where they were. I'd spent those years travelling, studying and working temp jobs because there were no art based opportunities in my area that filled me with joy and I wasn't prepared to commute or relocate for them. After feeling like I was walking around with a cloud of negativity around my head I decided to change my mindset. I gave myself some time to relax, to forget about it all. I binge watched Friends on Netflix eating leftover Christmas chocolate and tried to free myself from all the guilt, negativity and the feeling of January blues. 

I started looking at the positives. And there were so many that I'd overlooked. I noticed that little things were going right in my art business. I'd reached 1000 followers on Twitter and much more importantly I'd found a network of supportive online friends who shared my work, complimented my drawings and sent me ‘happy dance’ gifs when I'd made a sale. And talking of making sales, I'd made quite a few. December had been a tough month in my online shop. While I watched lots of other artists and makers make lots of sales in the run up to Christmas I'd made none until just before New Years Eve. Then after I updated my shop with the remaining postcards from my 100 Day Project I made a sale, and then another, and then another. By the 11th of January eight of my drawings had been sent to new homes and I felt a resounding sense of relief and pride in myself. I'm not one for bragging but I couldn't help but share my good fortune on social media. I'd made something with my own fair hands and people liked what I'd made so much that they spent their actual money on it. I made a pact with myself there and then that I would always celebrate a sale and always make a big deal of it. With a new feeling of accomplishment I tweeted that you should always celebrate your successes. When you make a sale no matter how small, when you get your first commission enquiry, when your website reaches a few more people than the week before. Not every day will be one that you want to shout about, I for one have more off days than great days but when there is something (no matter how small) to celebrate make sure that you do. Just the act of creating and being brave enough to share it with the world is worth shouting about. 

What have you done recently that is worth celebrating? Did you make a sale of your art work or write a blog post that you’re super proud of? Let me know in the comments below and remember to give yourself a pat on the back for doing what you do and not giving up.

If you enjoyed reading then please click the heart at the bottom, share or better still leave me a comment, I love reading them. ❤️