Patron of the Arts is proud to present artist Megan Wolfe as a featured Gallery Artist. Megan Wolfe’s art has captured our attention since we originally saw it. Weather it’s her hyperreal drawings of urban wildlife, or her more abstract  pieces, it’s clear that Megan is an artist with a lot going for her.

Patron of the Arts is pleased to present the art of Megan Wolfe for sale in our gallery,which can be viewed here. Now is your chance to pick up a piece of her work, while this talented up and coming artist is still affordable. You can view her available pieces, here:

In the meantime, you can learn more about this dynamic artist in the interview below:

1. Tell us about your background.

In 2002, I moved to San Francisco from Mississippi to pursue a BFA in art. I had been taking classes for years as a kid, but Mississippi, though rich in music and writing, doesn’t really support the visual arts as a career. The culture just isn’t there yet. After the move, there were so many options, it took me a while to figure out what kind of art I wanted to do. For a while, I thought I would be an illustrator, like my boyfriend at the time, or possibly an animator. What snapped me out of it was when my friends started graduating and getting the company jobs they had dreamed about. It was then that we all realized illustration was just like any other job. It was a practical field for an artist, at least if you were in film, and I wasn’t interested in practical, because practical isn’t art.

I was introduced to gallery art around the same time, and just before graduating in 2007, I started doing a series of hyper-real pencil drawings. The work focused on everyday scenes, and then urban wildlife. I continued that series for years after, and showed the work in several galleries and group shows. I also started teaching, which I continue to do when I have the time.

In the last year my work has evolved and I’ve opened up my life more to chance and play, so my current work has become more abstract and free. It’s very liberating after being so methodical for so long, and I’m very excited about it.

2. Tell us about your medium and your process.

For the last five years, I’ve been working exclusively in black and white, choosing to focus my work using graphite and different kinds of pencil. For my realism, I very stubbornly used a wax pencil, which does not erase. It’s masochistic in the sense that I had to build up the piece slowly, over months of time, or the work was ruined. It HAD to be perfect from the start.

For my newer work, I’ve decided to open up much more to the emotional and abstract, and so I’ve been taking the opposite approach. The work is risky. I’m working with lead pencil and loose graphite powder because it can be pushed around, erased, scratched, and smeared for a variety of textures. It’s a series of mistakes that make the work beautiful.

3. Tell us about your subject matter.

My subject matter continues to be based on “urban wildlife”. Pigeons, cracked sidewalks, scarred trees, and exposed roots are some of my favorites. I like anything that has a decayed beauty to it, and nature offers so many wonderful textures to play with.

The pigeons started after binging on Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories, and then looking for a subject with a hint of the macabre. Something that wasn’t creepy, but very subtle, sometimes unsettling, and beautiful. I stumbled onto a mass of pigeons feeding and they became my inspiration for thousands of photo references, and a multitude of drawings. The funny thing is, the more I drew them, the more I empathized with them. Pigeons are well known survivors, and SF pigeons especially have learned to mimic human behaviors (like walking at a crosswalk) in order to survive. They learn from us, and we compete with them for space. Often, people hate them for that, which I find more disturbing, considering that we’re from nature too.

4. Who are some of your current creative influences. Why?

I have so many favorites, but I’m not sure which really influence my work. Some I definitely look closely at are Dave McKean, Ashley Wood, and Phil Hale for technique. Even though they’re known illustrators, they do a great amount of fine art too, and no matter what, I always go back to looking at them because they’re solid draftsmen. I also really like Kiki Smith for subject variety, Robert Bechtle for stunning photorealism, and Zak Smith for wit and concept.

5. Do you have any upcoming projects that you are excited about?

At the moment, there are several projects and shows in the works, but they’re still too much in their infant stage to really advertise. On my own, I’ve started taking field trips to photograph aviaries and people involved in animal rescue. So far it’s opened up a few art-related opportunities too, and ways to give back to the birds that inspired me. I would really like for my art to be somehow more directly connected with nature, or at least the outdoors. I’m also pursuing some interests in doing large-scale murals.