Mallard Duck

Mallard Duck by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Mallard Duck.” Collage on paper. 9″x12″ Order a print

I had a lot of fun with this one – I focused mainly on texture and tried to stay away from solid colors (although I still went ahead and added a few solid color shapes to this). I didn’t take any progress pictures of the “Mallard Duck,” because I was in the zone while working on him. After I completed this piece, I realized that it may have been inspired by all the mallard ducks I collaged for Duck & Fish.

So in my last post I mentioned we had an earthquake here. Then this weekend we had a hurricane alert for Irene. I heard lots of people swarmed the stores for milk and bread, although I stocked up on books and green tea to read my way through the storm. Turns out it only lasted a day, and it wasn’t that bad at all. Just got a bit of rain and strong winds. The only casualty was our grill that got knocked over, but no damage was done to anything near us. Hope everyone else stayed safe during the storm!

Red Coffee Cup

Red Coffee Cup by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Red Coffee Cup.” Collage on mat board. 5″x7″
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I completed this piece a while ago and then I put a stack of magazines on it and forgot about it. While sifting through magazines as I worked on piecing together another collage, I found this one again. It was only made with coated paper, and for some reason the solid colors didn’t look right. So I went ahead and started cutting out bits and pieces of texture from magazines until the collage looked like the image above. Temporarily losing this work of art helped me in the end – I was able to look at it with a fresh pair of eyes and make adjustments that made the collage more colorful.

In other news…did you hear? D.C. felt an earthquake yesterday. I thought it was construction and didn’t think twice, but when folks started evacuating from all the buildings on the street, I decided I should follow suit. It was strange feeling the floor beneath me shaking. Reminds me of the earthquake we had last year – which was much smaller than yesterday’s. Last year, I stayed up until five o’clock in the morning working on a project – felt my chair vibrating and saw my computer monitor shaking, thought I must be hallucinating from sleep deprivation and decided to call it a night and go to sleep. Didn’t realize what had happened until I read the news the next day. Craziness.

Out of the Wild

Toucan Samantha by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Toucan Samantha.” Collage on paper. 12″x16″
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August 16th – December 12th, 2011
Davidson County Community College;
Lexington, North Carolina

Map and Gallery Info

Opening Reception: Tuesday, August 30th from 4:00 – 6:00p.m.

Megan Coyle was selected to be one of nine artists in this juried group exhibition. Seven of her collages were on display at Davidson County Community College’s Fall 2011 exhibition, “Out of the Wilds.” The show included her “Brown Bear,” “A Piece of the Ocean,” “Sunbathing Turtles,” “Elephant,” “Turtle,” “Gorilla,” and “Toucan” collages.

The artists featured in the exhibit created a variety of artwork that reflects the wildlife theme. Coyle’s wildlife collages were inspired by her trips to the National Zoo and Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, DC. The selected collages show Coyle’s range of texture and color use, as well as the different ways she depicts different animals. The exhibit included some of Coyle’s newer work as well as older pieces like “Elephant.”

Bosty goes to Chapel Hill

Bosty goes to Chapel Hill

Bosty decided to join us on our trip to Lexington, North Carolina for my “Out of the Wild” group exhibit. He really wanted to check out Chapel Hill – so we were on the road again.

We ran into a bit of traffic getting out of Washington, D.C., which made Bosty a little impatient.

Bosty goes to Chapel Hill

But eventually we made it to Chapel Hill. First stop? Crook’s Corner for a bite to eat. Bosty really wanted to go there because of the pig on the roof. He thinks they should call it “Bosty’s Corner” with a mini sculpture of him on the top.

Bosty goes to Chapel Hill

We ordered some good ‘old shrimp and grits. When we weren’t watching our plates, Bosty decided to sample our food. He had quite a few samples by the end of the meal.

Bosty goes to Chapel Hill

He liked the decor of the courtyard – they had lots of bamboo that made him feel like he was lounging in a jungle.

Bosty goes to Chapel Hill

The next day we strolled around UNC’s campus. Bosty decided that all my snapshots weren’t picturesque unless he starred in them.

Bosty goes to Chapel Hill

He got a little too excited when we walked by a construction site. Bosty really wanted to play on all the trucks and machines. We didn’t want him horsing around there, so we decided to call it a day for this dog.

Out of the Wild Installation

Megan Coyle collage artist

The other day we drove down to Lexington, North Carolina to install my artwork for the “Out of the Wild” exhibit. Seven of my animal collages will be on display from August 16th until December 12th at Davidson County Community College.

Megan Coyle collage artist

The artwork is installed in the lobby of the Mendenhall Administration Building.

Megan Coyle collage artist

Then here’s the staircase that goes to the second floor where you can find two more of my collages.

Megan Coyle collage artist
Megan Coyle collage artist
Megan Coyle collage artist

The exhibit coordinator is in the process of putting together a display of all the artists’ postcards for the show. There’s a total of nine artists in the juried exhibit.

Megan Coyle collage artist

After installing the show, I took a quick snapshot of the exterior of the building where the exhibit will be held. It was one busy day!

Purple Beagle

Purple Beagle by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Purple Beagle.” Collage on mat board. 5″x7″
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Another day, another doggie collage.

Lately I’ve been dabbling with some film work – figuring out how to work with editing, lighting, etc. Perhaps sometime in the future I’ll tackle a few collage-related film pieces. We shall see…

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a glorious week – and happy-almost-Friday!

Opening for MiniSolos

Collage artist Megan Coyle at MiniSolos

Last night was the opening reception for the “MiniSolos” exhibition at Touchstone Gallery in Washington, DC. The exhibit runs from August 4th until the 27th, and features the work of 37 area artists. I was pleased to be a part of this group exhibition. Above is a quick snapshot of myself in front of my artwork in the show.

Collage artist Megan Coyle at MiniSolos

Above and below are images of my artwork in the show. Since all the artwork was hung salon-style, I didn’t want to crowd my wall space so I only included three collages framed in 16″x20″ frames. The collages in the show included “One, Two, Three Giraffes,” “Goldfish Pond,” and “Koala Bear.”

Collage artist Megan Coyle at MiniSolos

The opening was pretty packed – quite a few folks were perusing the artwork and even mingling right by the main entrance on the sidewalk outside.

It’s been a busy couple of days. Soon I’m going to start thinking about different ways to promote my book Duck & Fish – once all my exhibit work is finished up in the next couple of months I’ll have some more time. Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

MiniSolos

Koala Bear by collage artist Megan Coyle
“Koala Bear.”
Collage on paper. 16″x12″
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August 4th – 27th, 2011
Touchstone Gallery; Washington, D.C.
Map and Gallery Info

Opening Reception: Friday, August 5th from 6:00 – 8:30p.m.

Megan Coyle’s “Koala Bear,” “Goldfish Pond,” and “One, Two, Three Giraffes” collages were on display at Touchstone Gallery’s “MiniSolos” group exhibition. “MiniSolos” featured the work of several artists working in a variety of mediums. The “mini shows” were hung salon style around the gallery.

Coyle’s “Koala Bear” collage made its first appearance in an exhibition at the “MiniSolos” show. Previously, she had made the collage so it would be part of the animal series for the Goodwin Gallery solo exhibition, but later decided to save the piece for a future show.

This was also the first time in a couple of years that Coyle displayed her work in a Washington, D.C. gallery. Previously she has shown her work at the Smithsonian Ripley Center in 2008.

Select Works from Duck & Fish: A Children’s Book Written and Illustrated by Megan Coyle

Duck and Fish by collage artist Megan Coyle

August 1st – 31st, 2011
Arlington Central East Gallery; Arlington, Virginia
Map and Gallery Info

To celebrate the completion of Megan Coyle’s first children’s book, Coyle displayed select illustrations from Duck & Fish at Arlington Central East Gallery. This was the first solo exhibition that featured artwork Coyle made for the story she wrote and illustrated. Each work of art was made entirely from magazine strips.

The illustrations tell the tale of a mallard duck who meets a flying fish at the beach. The two animals tell one another about the joys of flying in the sky or swimming underwater. Once they go their separate ways, Fish finds himself imagining what it would be like to fly while Duck ponders life underwater. What would happen if they could live such different lives? Would they be happy?

Coyle’s artwork takes you on an adventure with two animals that explore new, wondrous worlds. Coyle completed about thirty different works of art for the book Duck & Fish, however, only a few of the illustrations were on display at the gallery.

The exhibit gave viewers a chance to see the works of art in-person.

Duck & Fish is available online via Coyle’s online store

Select Works from Duck & Fish

Duck and Fish by collage artist Megan Coyle

Today was a busy day of installing artwork. The exhibit “Select Works from Duck & Fish” at Arlington Central Library went up as well as a couple of group exhibits. “Select Works from Duck & Fish” features nine of the collages that were created to illustrate my first children’s book, Duck & Fish. We managed to install the exhibit fairly quickly. Above you can see an image of five of the pieces side-by-side.

Duck and Fish by collage artist Megan Coyle

Here’s the collage from the first page of the book – “Duck Meets Fish.”

Duck and Fish by collage artist Megan Coyle

“Duck Talks About Flying” next to “Fish Talks About the Ocean.”

Duck and Fish by collage artist Megan Coyle

There’s a bit of a glare here, but the collage on the left is “Fish Dreams of Flying, Duck Dreams of Swimming” next to “Duck Goes Sightseeing in the Ocean.”

Duck and Fish by collage artist Megan Coyle

“Duck Meets the Creatures of the Ocean Floor” next to “Fish Runs into a Flock of Geese.”

Duck and Fish by collage artist Megan Coyle

“Fish Flies Over an Airport”

Duck and Fish by collage artist Megan Coyle

And the last collage in the exhibit, “Duck and Fish Say Goodbye.”

Duck and Fish by collage artist Megan Coyle

It was nice that a couple folks were curious about my artwork as the show was installed, and they asked me a couple questions about the artwork. I was able to tell them a bit more about how the pieces were made and that they are illustrations from my first children’s book.

Aside from stopping by Arlington Central Library today, we also made a visit to Touchstone Gallery to drop of my work for the “MiniSolos” show and dropped off a couple of pieces for the Gallery without Walls Del Ray Artisans’ exhibit. The Del Ray Artisans decided to extend the “Made in the U.S.A.” exhibit by having selected pieces displayed in a local business.

So all in all, it was a very busy and productive day. I’m looking forward to an upcoming week of art making.