Megan Brown

Work Progress and Ideation Update

Updated: 11/16/2024

After our iron pours, I feel I am in a good place to finish my pieces for this series, if not mostly finish them, by the end of the semester (although I have a history of needing to do a bunch of last-minute crunches, despite my best planning). 

Below is a more clear idea of what I want to do, using mockups of the iron pieces before they have been finished.

     With this piece, I had a specific texture in mind for what comes out of the funnels, and the closest thing I could find to what I was imagining was hair. As soon as I created the mock-up with the hair texture, the piece immediately took on a more feminist meaning for me. The current political climate, the way it is, and the intense swirl of emotions I have about the topic made me want to lean into the feminine energy, so I decided to have the blossoms inside a pink shade. To me, it makes the piece feel like the "womanly" one in my series. As each of my pigmented plants is meant to represent a human, this one that is strictly feminine creates a very strong link between the viewer and the humanoid properties of my abstract plants. 

I plan to use a thick gauge wire and paper to construct the blossoms and a hook system on the inside of the vase to assemble the hair and blossoms with the funnels. 

Question, which method of displaying this piece is the most realistic, as it will be a very heavy piece? Off the wall or from a pedestal? Are the pink blossoms too on the nose?

     I have been thinking about this piece for a long time, trying to figure out the best design that fits with my ideas for this series. I have come to the conclusion that this piece will be about coexistence with unlikely allies. My flower will be based on the carnivorous Butterwort and Sarracenia Purpurea. I find their silhouettes very compelling. I will have bug-like creatures living among the carnivorous plant leaves, defying the traditional relationship of plants to food. 

My final piece is still conceptually on the drawing board, but I have come up with a color scheme that I enjoy, and I am currently developing plans for the steel structure that will hold the tail and front fangs in place. I wish to try the crayon patina that we saw in the demo for San Diego. I think the vivid pigments will look really good against the smooth texture of the iron. 

I am wondering what this shape makes everyone feel or think of? It might help me understand where I am currently heading with this piece.

 Previous Work

In 2021, I made a series of sketches while brainstorming for a project. The sketches were so successful I was encouraged to circle back to them, eventually creating a whole series. The project involved using a found object, in this case, a small green vase I had gotten from Barts. Most of my plans for this semester revolve around completing this series. Here are the original images and my attempts at creating two of them. 

Overall, I intend to redo existing components of the ones I have already done, and I will attempt to make a third one from this series. I have found one of the most critical parts of the process for me is research and, unfortunately, when I made these sketches, I wasn't thinking of anything or any artist in particular, so before I get any further with this series, I intend to do some thorough research on female surrealist sculptors and possibly carnivorous plants. 

I don't remember exactly what I was going for when I made these sketches, but I do remember parts of what I wanted. I wanted to create something that seemed alive, like a plant, and I wanted them to look aggressive like they would try to bite you. I can push that a lot further now. 

The following is my ongoing Palestine Series:

Displacement

Steel, Sand, and Paper

Fall 2024

1 Bead, 1 Child

Fabric, 13,000 Seed Beads, Steel, found object

Fall 2024

The Distance Between Us

Wood, Plaster, Yarn

Fall 2024

The following are the other works I have made that I don't hate but don't belong in a series or might need some TLC.

Door Knocker

Bronze, Resin, & Braided cord

Fall 2020

The Wyoming Jackalope

Bronze, fo-leather, fo-fur, metal button, resin gem

Spring 2019

Inside Me (Alt: Anxiety & Depression)

Polymer Clay & Found Objects

Spring 2021

Untitled

Plaster, Tissue Paper, String Lights

Winter 2020

CAUTION: CLIMATE

Mini Gallery

Found traffic cone, Wax, Sand, Cardboard, & String Lights

Navigating Tool

Glass Enameled Copper, Brass, and Found Object

Spring 2019

 

Untitled Installation

Ice & Pinecones

Spring 2023 

Materials & Processes

I can tell that this semester, I will be doing a lot of plaster mold making for my vase series and wax sculpting to eventually cast it in iron (and maybe bronze). I intend to keep a 'hard and soft' mindset when designing these pieces, so I will probably be playing with some fiber as well. Paper will also probably find its way into my designs, as I love how versatile it can be in texture. 

If I had to pick something I wanted a demo on, it would probably be casting in Aluminium, as I have never done it, so I don't know how to use it in my designs. It seems like a cheap resource that will be easier to acquire for a home forge down the road, and it's one of the metals I haven't played with yet. Because I have no plans, as of right now, to use aluminum this semester, and I think I heard in class once that it is kind of a pain to cast with, I would understand if we didn't get to it.

Iron Pour & Iron Confrence Plans

Conference: Tiny Cryptoids (tiny iron)  & Door Knocker (shell mold)

Local Pour: Door knocker and/or back plate? (good for sand mold?)

Thematic Threads

Almost all of my work is abstract, usually rooted in emotions, trying to convey my feelings about one topic or another. Since that theme is pretty general, I intend to narrow my focus within each body of work in the future.

Palestine & Genocide Body: Exploring the effects and steps of Genocide, using Palestine as a case example. How connections with loved ones are strained and broken, loss of place and home, and the effect of mass death. I intend to keep creating works for this body, but only in ideation this semester.

Vase Creatures Series: ( DEVELOPMENT IN PROGRESS ) We, as humans, often put up a front and make ourselves seem unapproachable to others for various reasons. I am interested in creating these plant-like sculptures, with similar shells (the vase) representing our outer self, containing different creatures that each have a different motive and fear. 

Tiny Cryptoids:  ( DEVELOPMENT IN PROGRESS ) Our opportunity to cast tiny iron seemed like an excellent chance to build on my bronze Jackalope work from 2019. Perhaps a small series of tiny, fictional cryptoids. I have always been fascinated with cryptids and how the crafting of their stories is so very inherently human. My existing Jackalope needs work, providing me an opportunity to blend it into a whole series. 

Door Knocker Series: ( DEVELOPMENT IN PROGRESS ) I am realizing just how many casting opportunities we are going to have this semester, and I still have my base mold for my original door knocker, so I think I would be remiss to pass on the opportunity to develop this tiny body of work I have had in my head for a while. My Original knocker was meant to be gross-looking and challenging to hold. I wanted the person knocking on the door to go through effort or a bit of work if they wanted to get the homeowner's attention. Many of my relationships had begun to strain at the time, and these knockers felt like a way to show what people sometimes have to go through to be with the ones they love. It can be gross and uncomfortable because people aren't perfect, but to preserve the relationship, you must grab the knocker anyway to gain entry. To further this series, I think I shall create more challenging-to-hold knockers. 

Artist Influences

(Click the names to see website)

Mindy Shapero

Marc Perez

The following are artists who have not had a direct influence on my work (YET), but they are really cool, and I wanted to share.

Kathleen Ryan

Dustin Yellin

Adriana Varejão

These are not the only things she does, but ever since I randomly saw her Jerked-Beef Ruins series in 2021 on an obscure website that I don't even remember, these meat pillars and walls pop into my head at least twice a month. 

Adriana Varejão Looks Beneath The Surface, by Rory Mitchell. New York, 1 June 2021

Peruvian artist Xomatok transformed the hills of Lima, Peru's Alisos de Amauta neighborhood with 13 vibrant staircases filled with patterns inspired by Andean textiles.