Megan Maher is a mixed media artist and curator whose work explores the interactions between line, color, and materials. The squiggle is a recurring motif in her work. Maher grew up in Kentucky and Indiana, enjoying both city and country life. She received her BFA from Indiana University and moved to Washington, DC, to earn her MFA from American University. After graduating, she stayed in the DC area teaching and producing art. She has shown both internationally and nationally, including exhibits at Arlington Arts Center, McLean Project for the Arts and Centro Arti Visive andwas a member of the 2014-2016 DC Arts Center’s Sparkplug Collective. This group had their third exhibit, Selfie: Me, Myself and Us at Flashpoint Gallery in 2017. In 2018, she had a two solo exhibits, Delineated and Coloring with Lines and won honorable mention in the Regional Exhibit at the Hill Center in Washington DC. Her art practice is partially funded by the The Montgomery County Council of Arts and Humanities through the Artist Scholar grant. Maher’s curatorial repertoire includes Finder-Maker at Honfluer Gallery in 2017 and Uncommon Goods at the Willow Street Gallery in 2020. Past residencies have included the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, the Vermont Studio Center and the Chautauqua School of Art.
About
Line is fundamental in my art. In my work, squiggles - a line that curls and loops in an irregular way - are formed by lines which reference the basics in art. I use the squiggle as a motif because it is a mark that everyone is familiar with and, yet, each one is distinct. Through marks and lines, I strive to uncover the unfamiliar with the commonplace.
My work takes advantage of our pervasive desire to make sense of the world around us. The affinity for interpreting abstract marks is intuitive, especially when context is limited or removed. The micro elements attach onto one another creating new forms. The intimate vignettes come together as a new space mirroring how society now gets it’s information in the age of social media. The idea of random interaction is enhanced by my materials, fluid acrylics and liquid watercolors. Balancing the ambiguity is the rote drawing and marks. By repetitively painting, printing, and drawing layers of mixed media, I create elemental environments and atmospheres that are unnamed spaces, whose interpretations are relative to the experiences of the viewer.
Whether practicing cursive in school or doodling at a meeting, all of us have a personal history with marks on paper. It is this personal history that challenges my viewers to interpret lines and colors presented to them and their juxtaposition showing varying, intimate realities and interpretations.