Meaghan Shelton
AQ is our series of hardcover catalogs celebrating extraordinary women artists. Available on Amazon. Visit the AQ Catalog Webpage to learn more.
Featured in AQ Volume IV: Meaghan Shelton is an Australian visual artist, writer, curator, educator, and collaborator. Her transdisciplinary practice explores fashion, photography, textiles, painting, and sculpture to unlace art historical narratives of the ways in which women and nature have been represented in the domestic sphere. In re-crafting connections between women and familial knowledge, Meaghan redresses inner landscapes of the feminine to unravel historical conflations of both woman and nature as culture's Others. Merging the aesthetic languages of painting and sculpture, Meaghan expresses the tactile, utilitarian aspects of craft practices as conduits for the organic process of creative practice to untie the diasporic threads of her Anglo-Celtic/Australian heritage.
Meaghan is a multi-award-winning artist who exhibits nationally. Her work is held in both public—including commissioned work for the Sunshine Coast University Hospital in Queensland—and private collections in Australia and overseas. Most recently, she was awarded the Du Rietz Art Prize for painting at Gympie Regional Gallery, S.E. Queensland in 2023, the Du Rietz Sculpture Prize in 2019, and the Dorothy Birt Scholarship in 2023 from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. In 2022, Lorne Community Connect, with the support of the Surf Coast Shire Covid Recovery Grant, appointed Meaghan to create a pilot residency to establish an ongoing artist-in-residence program in Lorne, Victoria.
Meaghan is a Ph.D. candidate in Creative Practice-led Research with Queensland University of Technology (QUT), a Master of Fine Art by Research with QUT, and a BFA (Painting) with The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Melbourne, Australia.
http://www.meaghanshelton.com/
What inspired you to become an artist, and how did you decide to commit to this path?
There has never been a moment where I made the conscious decision to become an artist. From my earliest memories, it was the natural way of things. The pursuit of an alternative path I have never considered as an option.
Could you share the story or concept behind your recent work?
The pomegranate/Eve's apple was a theme I developed more than thirty years ago. However, I had become caught up in mid-nineties postmodernism, which felt like a visual free-for-all, not conducive to these quieter, more meditative works that have brought me full circle. The premise of this series has been to demythologize Persephone's story. What would it look like if she exercised her agency in undertaking a self-imposed exile? Historically, Persephone has been framed as a victim. Could her journey into the underworld be retold as a rite of passage in a story of her own choosing, where she gains wisdom via her own senses and curiosity? History's steering of the narrative separates Persephone from her own volition and agency, with the myth suggesting she can only be a fully-fledged woman if she has experienced some kind of violation. I wanted to create a body of work exploring these ideas to reinstate Herstory.
What was the most challenging part of your path so far? How are you navigating this obstacle?
Life is challenging. If it isn't, then you are asleep. Being an artist often means going against the grain. It is the work itself that carries one through.
What role does experimentation and exploration play in your artistic practice?
As a creative practice-led researcher, experimentation and exploratory play are paramount and the driving force for making.
Do you have any start or stop rituals before creating?
If I'm really procrastinating, in the extreme, I have to mess up the whole house/studio, leaving only a tiny patch of clear space to work in. Then I begin to work my way out of the mess, both physically and metaphorically! Stopping is never an option; the creative thread seems to just roll on to the next project. The secret is to let it all unfold organically.
What message do you hope your art conveys to the world?
I hope that anyone observing my creative path and processes will glean the sense that there is no 'right' way. Take some simple skills and see what you can do with them. If you don't have any of note, seek a way to learn something.
Share a mantra or favorite quote that keeps you going.
Trust the process; that is the golden rule.
