“I don’t really use a desk. In the front is my sewing machine table but mostly I sew by hand and sit in the soft blue chair with a trash can beside me to catch all the tiny pieces of thread. My studio is brand new and built behind our house with the garden in between. I love to have the windows open and hear our resident mockingbird and little finches. I have 3 yr old twin daughters and if you turned the lens to the right a few feet you would see their playhouse and scooters and little table and easel– it is their studio as well.”

Megan Whitmarsh was born in 1972. She lives and works in Los Angeles. She holds a Master of Fine Arts (University of New Orleans) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting (Kansas City Art Institute). She is known primarily for her idiosyncratic and detailed hand embroidery; a medium she has been working in since the mid 90’s. She works in a variety of low-tech media including self published comic books, stop action animation film, soft sculpture, painting and drawing.

“Color Work Station”, 2010, dimensions variable, fabric, cardboard, luan, wood, embroidery, marker, vinyl, wire, stuffing, paint

Color Work Station is a meta “studio”. I wanted to make an impression of a studio: reflecting my own permeability to the multitude of references before me, while also celebrating the processes of making art.

The awkward sensibility of the piece is an opening for the viewer. Something incomplete has the potential to evolve and thus facilitates engagement. The end result is like the movie version of my work, oscillating between sculpture, painting & installation while combining my interest in narrative, abstraction, gesture, texture and color to create a multiplicitous dialogue.

Kate is the proud owner of “Trash Mountain” from 20×200 which sits on her desk as a reminder to focus amoung the piles. She’s been a long time fan of Megan’s work; pops of colour, sci-fi and visual narratives.  Like a modern-day Shel Silverstein.