Megan Woolverton
I create journals through painting, drawing, and linoleum printing that depict little moments to remind me to be present in and love even the most unassuming details of my life. Recreating these brings my attention to what would otherwise go unnoticed.
Travel sketching has influenced this process. When I travel and sketch, what stands out to me is the everyday – a bright orange scooter in a dark passage or the curtains flowing in a hotel window. It’s easy to appreciate these moments when I’m experiencing the joy and excitement of travel. It’s more challenging to incorporate that same joy into my life at home.
In finding this excitement in my daily life, I observe the world around me and what I feel in the moment. I find myself most inspired by scenes of the simple things in life – reflected color on a sink, patterned light on a carton of eggs, and times of relative inactivity with friends. The drawings and paintings are a comforting depiction of what I love. The text, layered through the images and sometimes obscured, expresses my thoughts in the moment and, later, while painting or drawing the image. This isn’t always easy. It’s a challenge to appreciate the beauty of life through overwhelming thoughts and emotions. I work to find this beauty and value in the frustration without ignoring the complexity of these feelings.
I encourage viewers to leaf through the pages, play with the accordion-style binding, and trace your hands over the brushstrokes, seams of the pages, and book covers, doing so as I have. I encourage you to share a similar sense of intimacy with this artwork as I have with each page. Be present in this moment that we share.
