‘I aim to place pressure on painting’s traditions and exploit the extreme plastic qualities of the medium to cross cultural as well as aesthetic boundaries of form’
Megan Walch’s artistic pursuits have seen her living, studying, working and exhibiting in over four continents since she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors at the University of Tasmania, in 1989. She believes it to be this time away, including the many residences in South East Asia that have significantly influenced her perspective and subsequently the work she produces.
The medium of painting, of mixing enamel and oil together creates a synergy at times, beyond Walch’s control, a visual metaphor she sees as an echo of contemporary life.
Walch’s developing theory of plasticity in relation to her painting is a philosophy she considers able of ’embracing a synthesis of European and Asian pictorial perspectives’. The plastic properties of paint have allowed Walch, to create new kinds of forms in painting. Rendering the medium into almost three-dimensional forms that challenge western conventions in painting. ‘I see my paintings as a form of Surreal Cartography: they are alternative maps for worlds in flux that explore a fluid and unstable subjectivity’. Citing Surrealism as her historic lineage, she relates to the notion of the ‘formless’ (informe), with her aim being to guide her audience into apprehending other kinds of form and forms of ‘otherness’ to sound warnings and inspire hope.
MEGAN WALCH
Lives and works in Hobart, Tasmania
Education
2012 – Currently studying a PhD at the University of Tasmania
1997 – Master of Fine Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, California, USA
1996 – Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, USA
1989 – Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honors Degree, Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania
Solo Exhibitions
2015 – Materia Prima, Bett Gallery, Tasmania
2012 – The Stain, Bett Gallery, Hobart
2011 – The Lineage of Eccentricity Stage 2, MOP Projects, Sydney, NSW. The Lineage of Eccentricity 1, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne 2010, and, Verge, new works on paper, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2009 – Into the Wild Wood, Criterion Gallery, Tasmania
2008 – The End of Gravity, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2006 – Doppel Lecker, Criterion Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
2005 – Tinglish, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2004 – Extreme Ikebana, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2003 – Fear of Nic-Nacs, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2002 – Double Happiness, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra 2001 and Shocking Crashes and Chases, Adelaide University Art Gallery, South Australia
2000 – Shocking Crashes and Chases, Contemporary Art Services, Tasmania, Australia
1998 – Mass Transit, Haines Gallery, San Francisco, California, USA
1996 – Fat Free, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco California, USA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014 – The Skullbone Experiment: a paradigm of art and nature, curated by Catherine Wolfhagen. Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston and COFA, NSW.
2014 – formed and unformed: an exhibition of drawing. 146 ArtSpace, Tasmania
2014 – Tasmanian Landscape. Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Tasmania
2013 – Rue de Belleville, Gallerie pompom, Sydney
2013 – City of Hobart Art Prize, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
2012 – Redcliffe City Art Gallery, Queensland, City of Hobart Art Prize – finalist, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery; The Glover Prize for Landscape Painting, Launceston Tasmania, and, New Art From Tasmania, curated by Dr Peter Hill, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne
2011 – City of Hobart Art Prize, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery; Hobart Think Tank, curated by Malcom Bywaters, Academy Gallery, Launceston; The Glover Prize for Landscape Painting, Launceston Tasmania, and, Arthur Guy Memorial Award for Painting, Bendigo Art Gallery.
2010 – Primed: New Painting in Tasmania, curated by Catherine Wolfhagen. Academy Gallery, School of Visual and Performing Arts, Launceston Tasmania;
Lost in Painting, Dianne Tanzer Gallery, Melbourne; Conceptual, Curated by Dr.Colin Langridge CAST Gallery; Tasmania Wilderness, Curated by Wayne Tunnicliffe, Senior Curator, Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Including wall painting commission for the foyer of AGNSW, and, The Glover Prize for Landscape Painting, Launceston Tasmania.
2008 – Tidal, Devonport Regional Art Gallery, Tasmania; The Fletcher Jones Prize for Painting, Geelong City Art Gallery
2007 – Recent Acquisitions, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
2005 – Melbourne Reign, Michael Carr Gallery, Sydney; Liquid Properties, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney; Kindle and Swag, The Samstag Effect, Curated by Ross Wolfe, QUT, Brisbane, and, Neighbours, Glen Eira City Council Gallery.
2004 – Kindle and Swag, The Samstag Effect, Curated by Ross Wolfe, University of South Australia Art Museum; Melbourne Flora Nova, Nellie Castan Gallery, Melbourne
2004 – Melbourne 4th Contemporary Art Fair
2003 – Boogy, Jive & Bop, Academy Gallery, School of Visual and Performing Arts, Launceston, curated by Malcom Bywaters
2002 – Melbourne 3rd Contemporary Art Fair, Artists to Artists, Ace Gallery, New York
2001 – Painter to Painter – five new voices, R. B. Stevenson Gallery, San Diego, California
2000 – Conrad Jupiters 2000, Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Josephine Ulrick Painting Prize; Painting, Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmania, Monash University curated by Troy Ruffels and Sarah Ryan; Meat Market Art Fair, New York, and, Primavera, Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, curated by Melissa Chiu
1998 – Skowhegan – a decade, Beitzel Gallery, New York, Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation, New York
1997 – Towards the Millenium – artists from Northern California, Monterey Museum & Art Gallery, California
Awards and Grants
2012 – Australian Post Graduate Award.
2012 – People’s Choice Award. City of Hobart Art Prize
2012 – Australia Council for the Arts Tokyo Studio Residency for 2014
2010 – Arts Tasmania Grant, Individual Category Teaching Merit Certificate, School of Art, University of Tasmania
2005 – New Work Grant, (Established Category) Australia Council
2000 – Winner Contrad Jupiters Art Prize; Inaugural Winner Josephine Ulrick & Win Schubert Painting Prize. Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Queensland
1998 – Marie Walsh Sharpe Space Program, Grant of studio space for 12months, Tribeca New York, USA
1994 – Samstag Scholarship, 1996 Samstag Supplementary Scholarship
1996 – Full scholarship to attend Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine, USA
Collections
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Queensland
Monterey Museum and Art Gallery California, USA
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Tasmania
Artbank Australia
General Electric Co. USA and Novell Corp. Utah. USA
University of South Australia
Private Collections USA and Australia
Australian National University, Canberra
Residencies
2014 – Australia Council Overseas Studio, Tokyo, Japan
2004 – Asialink Studio, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
2002 – Artist in Residence, School of Art, The Institute of Arts. Australia National University, Canberra
2002 – Australia Council Overseas Studio Taipei, Taiwan
1999 – Yaddo Residency, Saratoga Springs, New York State. USA
Professional Activities
2010 – Peer Advisor, Australia Council for the Arts
2009-11 – Seasonal Teacher, Drawing Department, School of Art, University of Tasmania
2004-05 – Samstag Panel Member
2003 – Guest Speaker, Hatched Healthway Graduate Show Symposium – Perth, WA.
2003 – Sessional Teacher, Drawing: Monash University, Victorian College for the Arts
2002 – Sessional Teacher in Drawing, Victorian College of the Arts
2002 – Drawing and Painting Teacher, Latrobe College of the Arts,Melbourne
2001-03 – Visiting Artist & Speaker, College of Fine Arts, NSW, Sydney College of the Arts, TAFE NSW, Victorian College of the Arts, College of Adult Educaton, Melbourne, Taipei National University of the Arts, Taiwan, Monash University
1998-01 – Teacher of Painting, 92nd St. Art Center, New York, NY, USA.
2000 – Artist in Residence, Tasmanian School of Art at Hobart, University of Tasmania
1996-97 – Teacher of Painting, Extension Education San Francisco Art Institute: Intermediate Painting Program, California, USA
1992 – Internship, The Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy
1991 – Travel in the USA and Europe
Bibliography
2014 – The Skullbone Experiment. Documentary on ABC1 by Roar Film
2008 – Artist Profile: Moving Pictures, Tali Borowski. Scoop Traveller Magazine Summer Edition 2008
2007 – Review of Doppel Lecker, Sean Kelly, Artlink. March.
2005 – Tickled by Tinglish, Chris Beck, Melbourne Age 24/09
2005 – Review of Tinglish, Ashley Crawford. Melbourne Age.25/09
2004 – Artist Profile Edward Colless, Australian Art Collector. July issue
2003 – Fear of Nic-Nacs, Ashley Crawford, Melbourne Age 22/11
2001 – Confidently Kitsch, Ashley Crawford, Melbourne Age 1/10
2001 – Are you experienced? Visual Arts. Robert Nelson, The Age 18/4
2000 – (You make me feel) mighty real. Alison Kubler, Art Monthly, June Australia
1998 – International Gazette, Ben Widdicombe, Australian Art Collector, # 5 July-Sept 1998
1998 – Changing Cultures and Glittering Prizes, Joanna Mendelssohn, Artlink, Volume 17 No 4
1997 – Painter Makes Mark in US. Jane Lovibond, Mercury Newspaper 6/21, Tasmania, Australia
Past events
Poets and Painters: Celebrating the big Punchbowl
Exhibitions
This event has already occurred.
23-27 Albert Road, Moonah
The Patterdale Project
Exhibitions
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183 Uplands Road, Deddington
A decolonial geographic
Exhibitions
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45-47 Stewart Street, Devonport
Tidal: City of Devonport National Art Award 2016 Finalists Exhibition
Exhibitions
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45-47 Stewart Street, Devonport
Group Show
Exhibitions
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369 Elizabeth Street, Hobart
Bett Gallery
Galleries
369 Elizabeth Street, Hobart
Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery – TMAG
Bookshops, Galleries, Heritage, Major museums
Dunn Place, Hobart
Queen Victoria Art Gallery
Bookshops, Galleries, Heritage, Major museums
2 Wellington Street, Launceston
