Audio By Carbonatix
Mixmaster presents “100 Creatives,” in which we feature cultural entrepreneurs of Dallas in random order.
The touch of artist Margaret Meehan is delicate. Which is not to say that her work is sugarcoated, but respectful, intricate and sensitive. Gleaning subject matter from history and literature, much of Meehan’s work pulls back the curtain on those culture has outcast or deemed “freaks.” Her art is obsessed with monsters and the creation of them, repositioning the grotesque within the lovely, exploring questions of race, gender and how we build history.
Her work is layered and laboriously researched. She creates in numerous media, and has shown her work at The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, The Dallas Museum of Art, Soil Gallery in Seattle, David Shelton Gallery in Houston and Conduit Gallery in Dallas, to name a few. Her art moves people, because she works in concepts we all understand and participate in on a daily basis. And she seems to be encouraging us in the most beautiful way to reconsider — which is one of the loveliest things art can accomplish.
How did you end up in Dallas and what keeps you here?
I moved here in 2003 from NYC when my husband, Noah Simblist, got a job teaching at SMU. Eleven years later it’s become our home thanks to great opportunities, a valued community and delicious breakfast tacos.
In much of your work you blur the grotesque with loveliness, and it – at least for me – results in a sort of romantic allure or mystery. Would you say that you’re compensating for a collective societal distaste with certain undesirables or do you approach your subjects with genuine affection? Genuine affection. Life is lovely and very corporeal.
I know that growing up in suburban Dallas, I had an inexplicable attraction to the Frankensteins of the world, was there a certain point in your life or in your career that you became interested in this concept of “monsters” or “freaks”?
I think I’ve always been interested in the idea of what makes a monster and the science of teratology. Mary Shelley’s monster was feared because of his body. The rejection and mass hysteria from the town created his shame and pushed him to act out violently.
I tend to be overly sensitive and as a child I was always trying to figure out who was considered worth protecting and whom “we” needed to be protected from. I was 14 when Ryan White became the face of HIV/AIDS in the United States. Someone that made the disease and its reach extend beyond America’s belief that it only affected gay men. I think trying to make sense of his pain while being a kid myself opened my eyes to how ugly “normal” could be. It started my search for empathy and strength in all kinds of people.
You base a lot of your work in history, and you’ve incorporated the stories of a lot of people whom society has outcast in your art. In your research are there any stories you’ve come across that are too devastating or too precious to use as art?
I’m not interested in the sadness as much as the underdog, the survivor or the unexpected heroine. I try to make work that honors difference and people who exemplify defiance and symbolize hope or at least will when I reinvent their story and give them an alternate ending. I want to upend the freak show by reversing the gaze and throwing it back on the voyeur.
When you’re putting a layered exhibition together, Hystrionics and the Forgotten Arm for example, does it start as a big vision or do you build it piece by piece? And are you always (or ever) able to execute it according to your intention?
I always start with a larger idea that’s a little blurry and hard to see as a whole. Usually a title pops into my head like Hystrionics… or a person like Alice Doherty, my muse for the Pugilist, and I start expanding from there.
I work visually the way a writer might start to gather the parts of a novel. The exhibitions generally take shape over two years with research, trial and error in the studio, collaboration, editing and then completion. The execution from start to finish is exactly like and nothing like what I expected because there is a lot of growth in-between.
Was ArtPace a good experience for you and your craft?
It was amazing. I was given the time, budget and assistance to make work on a level I have only dreamed of being able to do. It raised the bar and I now know what I am capable of accomplishing given real support.
100 Creatives:
100. Theater Mastermind Matt Posey
99. Comedy Queen Amanda Austin
98. Deep Ellum Enterpriser Brandon Castillo
97. Humanitarian Artist Willie Baronet
96. Funny Man Paul Varghese
95. Painting Provocateur Art Peña
94. Magic Man Trigg Watson
93. Enigmatic Musician George Quartz
92. Artistic Luminary Joshua King
91. Inventive Director Rene Moreno
90. Color Mavens Marianne Newsom and Sunny Sliger
89. Literary Lion Thea Temple
88. Movie Maestro Eric Steele
87. Storytelling Dynamo Nicole Stewart
86. Collaborative Artist Ryder Richards
85. Party Planning Print maker Raymond Butler
84. Avant-gardist Publisher Javier Valadez
83. Movie Nerd James Wallace
82. Artistic Tastemakers Elissa & Erin Stafford
81. Pioneering Arts Advocates Mark Lowry & Michael Warner
80. Imaginative Director Jeremy Bartel
79. Behind-the-Scenes Teacher Rachel Hull
78. Kaleidoscopic Artist Taylor “Effin” Cleveland
77. Filmmaker & Environmentalist Michael Cain
76. Music Activist Salim Nourallah
75. Underground Entrepreneur Daniel Yanez
74. Original Talent Celia Eberle
73. Comic Artist Aaron Aryanpur
72. Classical Thespian Raphael Parry
71. Dance Captain Valerie Shelton Tabor
70. Underground Culture Mainstay Karen X. Minzer
69. Effervescent Gallerist Brandy Michele Adams
68. Birthday Party Enthusiast Paige Chenault
67. Community Architect Monica Diodati
66. Intrepid Publisher Will Evans
65. Writerly Wit Noa Gavin
64. Maverick Artist Roberto Munguia
63. Fresh Perspective Kelsey Leigh Ervi
62. Virtuosic Violinist Nathan Olson
61. Open Classical’s Dynamic Duo Mark Landson & Patricia Yakesch
60. Rising Talent Michelle Rawlings
59. Adventurous Filmmaker Toby Halbrooks
58. Man of Mystery Edward Ruiz
57. Inquisitive Sculptor Val Curry
56. Offbeat Intellect Thomas Riccio
55. Doers and Makers Shannon Driscoll & Kayli House Cusick
54. Performance Pioneer Katherine Owens
53. Experimental Filmmaker and Video Artist Mike Morris
52. Flowering Fashioner Lucy Dang
51. Insightful Artist Stephen Lapthisophon
50. Dallas Arts District
49. Farmer’s Market Localvore Sarah Perry
48. Technological Painter John Pomara
47. Progressive Playmakers Christopher Carlos & Tina Parker
46. Purposive Chef Chad Houser
45. Absorbing Artist Jeff Gibbons
44. Artistic Integrator Erica Felicella
43. Multi-talented Director Tre Garrett
42. Anachronistic Musician Matt Tolentino
41. Emerging Veteran Actor Van Quattro
40. Festival Orchestrator Anna Sophia van Zweden
39. Literary Framer Karen Weiner
38. Man Behind the Music Gavin Mulloy
37. The Godfather of Dallas Art Frank Campagna
36. Rising Star Adam A. Anderson
35. Artist Organizer Heyd Fontenot
34. Music Innovator Stefan Gonzalez
33. Triple Threat Giovanni Valderas
32. Cultural Connector Lauren Cross
31. Critical Artist Thor Johnson
