Megan Singleton is a practicing artist and educator located in St. Louis, Missouri. Her ecology-based work crisscrosses the boundaries of contemporary art and craft, combining sculpture, hand papermaking, installation, and digital applications. She received her MFA in Sculpture from Louisiana State University and BFA in Photography from Webster University. She actively exhibits nationally and internationally, her work can be found in the collections of the Louisiana Art and Science Museum, the Robert C. Williams Paper Museum, as well as numerous private and corporate collections. Megan has served on the board of directors for the hand papermaking organization The Friends of Dard Hunter, as V.P of Membership and Development, and is a member of the International Art Collective Expanded Draught, based in Galway Ireland. In recent years she was the recipient of the RAC Artist Fellowship, the Smelser-VallionVisiting Artist Fellowship in Taos, MN and was invited to install site-specific mural projects at Brown University in Providence, RI, Lambert Airport in Saint Louis, and the Gaylord Trust Building in Lockport, IL. She has been resident artist at Haystack, Craft Alliance, A Studio in the Woods, Tide Institute and Museum, Doel Reed Center for Art, A Studio in the Woods, Kingsbrea Gardens, and the Great Sand Dunes National Park.
Artist Statement
The investigation of ecological relationships within society and the landscape is the basis of my work. As an interdisciplinary artist, I create works that resonate with the materiality and rhythms of the natural world. My creative practice intertwines sculpture, handmade paper, found objects, printmaking, photography, and books arts. Research, both material and scholarly, is a critical component of my studio activities. I am an observer, collector, fabricator, and instigator of thought and haptic experience.
I have an expertise in hand papermaking and utilize my knowledge of this historic craft to create work in a contemporary context that transforms invasive plant fibers into works of art. This process of collection and transformation honors the plants as living organisms, while simultaneously engaging and educating viewers about the importance of invasive-species awareness. My work is placed based, inspired by the desire to interpret the landscapes of disrupted, invaded ecologies and natural phenomena.
I am interested in how art can address and engage people with the natural world, and connect with the physical actions of a growing, living environment. This, in turn, can inspire communities and individuals to care and foster the growth and revitalization of our landscapes and their natural systems.