Artist Bio:
Megan Smith is a sculptor, who is interested in interactive installation and design. Her work involves themes of worldbuilding through nostalgia, play, participation and escapism. She is currently based in Bloomington, IN, and is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture, + Design of Indiana University. She completed her MFA at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture, + Design in Bloomington, IN and her BFA at Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Artist statement:
Worldbuilding has been a big part of my life since childhood. It is personal and complex. Regarding this work, I am considering this as the intentional process of making and developing a new world or space, a personal utopian cosmos that speaks to my personal experiences and upbringing. I am actively using worldbuilding as a key to unlock nostalgia, participation, and a nourishing escape. In this exhibition, In Blush, I am transporting my viewers and I to a certain time and place that is grounded and established through play. Using immersions to activate viewers’ senses, I depict a theatrical, surreal world where everything is bright, shiny and untarnished. Every aspect is materialized so that you can only see through rose-colored glasses. It is a place that I consider to be ideal and that restores innocence and curiosity. It is a safe space to pause and an investigation of optimism. It is dreamlike, colorful, lively, and delicious. I am using acts of participation and interaction to physically share this world, activate narratives, and engage my viewers through physical experiences. I invite you to be a participant in these works, as they are for us to experience a change from the world that we live in everyday, nourishment from the unhealthy, protection from the unsafe, a hug from the loneliness, and a release from ______________________ (fill in the blank).
Megan Smith is a sculptor, who is interested in interactive installation and design. Her work involves themes of worldbuilding through nostalgia, play, participation and escapism. She is currently based in Bloomington, IN, and is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture, + Design of Indiana University. She completed her MFA at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture, + Design in Bloomington, IN and her BFA at Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Artist statement:
Worldbuilding has been a big part of my life since childhood. It is personal and complex. Regarding this work, I am considering this as the intentional process of making and developing a new world or space, a personal utopian cosmos that speaks to my personal experiences and upbringing. I am actively using worldbuilding as a key to unlock nostalgia, participation, and a nourishing escape. In this exhibition, In Blush, I am transporting my viewers and I to a certain time and place that is grounded and established through play. Using immersions to activate viewers’ senses, I depict a theatrical, surreal world where everything is bright, shiny and untarnished. Every aspect is materialized so that you can only see through rose-colored glasses. It is a place that I consider to be ideal and that restores innocence and curiosity. It is a safe space to pause and an investigation of optimism. It is dreamlike, colorful, lively, and delicious. I am using acts of participation and interaction to physically share this world, activate narratives, and engage my viewers through physical experiences. I invite you to be a participant in these works, as they are for us to experience a change from the world that we live in everyday, nourishment from the unhealthy, protection from the unsafe, a hug from the loneliness, and a release from ______________________ (fill in the blank).
