Saturday, September 6, 2008

Trials and Trails • New Works by Megan Dean

September 6, 2008 - October 16, 2008



In September, the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery will feature an exciting new collection of linoleum block print and mixed media by Co-op artist Megan Dean. The show will open for a 6 week run on September 6th, 2008 with food, music and a chance for the public to meet Megan and many of her fellow co-op artists in the old Hotel Jerome on Main St. from 5 to 8 pm. The gallery will also simultaneously celebrate Jerome’s monthly ‘First Saturday’ ART WALK.

For the Arizona native, the term ‘local artist’ is more than just a requirement for membership in the Jerome Artist Cooperative Gallery where her work is on display; the genial block print artist was born, raised and educated in the state and remains firmly anchored to an extended family, friends and co-workers in the art community in northern Arizona. Megan and her husband live in Prescott where she continues to hone her traditional block-print making skills through classes and work in the Print-making department at Yavapai College.



Megan describes herself as a traditional block print artist who draws artistic inspiration from such iconic themes as family, the natural world and ritualism in ancient artworks. Her art as well as her personal life is driven by a strong commitment to personal growth and a desire to practice responsible choice in a world that she sees as less than perfect.

Visitors to the Jerome Artists’ Cooperative Gallery and her fellow member/artists find her work thought-provoking and delightful, though she occasionally finds herself explaining the difference between a “print” and an “original” work in her field of art. Each of her block prints is actually a hand-pulled, hand-printed original created from a variety of forms of art linoleum and often incorporating ‘found’ art such as bits of ceramic or wood. Although some types of art linoleum are thin enough to be run through a printing press, most require individual stamping but she is quick to explain than none is a an exact “reproduction”.




According to Megan, “My show, entitled Trials and Trails is a combination of two main bodies of work in linoleum block print and mixed media that I have been working on over the past two years. The first body of work is a comment on my southwest upbringing, dealing with Manifest Destiny and the Wild West.

On the other side of the spectrum is work dealing with relationships, goals, desires and milestones in life."

The exhibition will run through October 16th, 2008.