Our next Artist You Need To Know is Sandra Meigs.
Meigs is a Canadian artist (based in British Columbia) who works primarily in painting but has also produced works in a number of other media.
For nearly four decades, she “has created vivid, immersive, and enigmatic paintings that combine complex narratives with comic elements. She derives the content of her work from her own personal experiences, and develops these to create visual metaphors related to the psyche.
Meigs is dedicated to painting and to the possibilities of enchantment that painting presents through colour and form. She believes that the very authenticity of one’s experience offers proof that what is imagined when looking at a painting is as real as anything else that one experiences in the world. She has also inter-woven sculpture, film, sound, and other media in her works.” (from here)
She has a very extensive site and many of the works we’ll be sharing today more from those series, and more information about them can be found at the links to her own site we’ve included.
The works below are from The Philosopher’s Cloud series and Sublime Rage (with several installation shots from when it was on view at the McMichael Canadian art Collection).
Sandra Meigs was born in Baltimore (1953). She attended the Rhode Island School of Design and obtained a BFA from the NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1975) and an MA from Dalhousie University (1980) as well. Meigs has been based in Canada since 1973.
She is an important teacher, alongside her impressive artistic practice, mentoring a multitude of artists at numerous institutions. Schools that Meig has taught at include York University (1984 – 1985, both as an instructor and in the Graduate Division of the institution), University of Toronto (1990 – 1993) and the University of Victoria. At the last institution, Meigs was an associate professor for 24 years : she retired in 2017 from this position. Meigs has described her teaching style as being “focused on a hands-on learning rather than straight theory.” Meigs has exhibited widely : a list of her impressive exhibition record can be seen here.
The artworks below are from the series on the emotions and I Feel Real.
Critic John Bentley Mays has offered that “[Meigs’] topics are those of the cave-painters of the Stone Age and artists ever since: the body, light and darkness, storytelling.”
Although primarily a painter, Meigs has produced bodies of work – sometimes in collaboration – that straddle other media, employing found objects, audio and sculpture. In many ways, these three dimensional works create environments for the visitor, as though you’re stepping inside one of her painted scenes. She’s found inspiration in both literature and pop culture (specifically lyrics).
The images we’re sharing below are examples of this aspect of her practice. More information about The Glass Ticker and The Little Lost Operas can be found at Meigs’ site (including video documentation of the installations, to give a more genuine experience of the characters and stories Meigs has constructed).
Meigs has earned a number of awards over her multi decade career. These include the Gershon Iskowitz Prize (2015), the Governor General’s Award in Visual Arts (also 2015) and she is also a fellow at the Royal Society of Canada.
The works below are from the series Scenes on a Sea of Joy and Sorrow and Dummies.
“I anticipate … an explosion of colour, at first the colours will look ungainly, like blobby forms coughed onto the wall: minty green, cerulean blue, milk chocolate brown … within the ground there are hidden figures and things: a toe, a dog head, a breast, etc. The viewer’s exploration of these comes to fruition when close to the canvas. When stepping away to a distance, they are lost.”
As we’ve mentioned throughout this post, Meigs’s site offers information and images about a number of her bodies of work as well as more details about her accomplishments. That can be enjoyed here.
Meigs is also represented by Susan Hobbs Gallery : much more of her artwork can be seen there.