Perspective becomes Integral: a story about Megan Mueller.

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Perspective becomes Integral: a story about Megan Mueller.

The fence was made out of duct tape, sticky side out. I ask her about the results. "It collected trash," Megan offers matter-of-factly. The purpose here is to find out what Megan deems a success in her world of installation art. The fence was loosely designed to keep people out of her backyard back when she lived in Richmond, VA. The bums in the neighborhood liked to drink on her stoop. "[The project] did nothing but collect people -- opposite of isolating," she said. She could have simply bought a fence, but it was too late. She was already facinated with the concept of fences at this point. The desire to create outweighed the desire to permanently solve the problem. So the fence did not necessarily fail at its purpose, but its purpose was redefined.

Over the course of the interview the theme of redefinied purpose gets mentioned quite a bit. Megan Mueller is constantly questioning her perspective on the world. In her own words, "My artwork revolves around boundaries. The line when two places come together is such an arbitrary notion. I have become obsessed with how these ideas are presented. Perspective becomes integral."

Megan loves dialogue. If a purpose can be attributed to her work, it would be that. Says she, "I don't find validation in positive feedback from other people, but I seek conversation." Her goal is "dialogue, not praise." She wants, "a lifestyle that is involved in the community in contemporary arts," and to "surround myself with people who share ideas." Throughout the interview Megan listens as much as she talks. The questions hang for a minute after I ask them. Silence follows her response. She's brave enough to sometimes admit, "I don't know, " and perhaps braver still for taking steps to find out.

She left working in a government basement to go back to school for a second undergraduate degree. Taken from a personal statment, "In my former life, I read immigration cases for border patrol agents. It was my job to see if a person had naturalized, achieved legal permanent resident status, or had been able to fly under the radar. Every case involved pain staking efforts to leave and go somewhere new. The irony of the situation has only occurred to me recently -- I had drifted into this job and stage of my life without any thought or fulfillment." Taken from an earlier draft, "From that moment onward I told myself I would always be aware of where I was and where I wanted to go. I believe that this realization fuels my artwork and my interest in place."

She enrolled in Virginia Commonwealth University, eventually majoring in scultpure. She didn't necessarily find a home in that department, which she attributes to her love of flat things. She did however feel that VCU did a good job at preparing her for the real world of art. A major part of their curriculum is focused on keeping students informed, and there is a lot of freedom to undertake self-projects. The program fit well with Megan's naturally curious nature. She has taken the desire to stay connected with her and does copious amounts of research, primarily via internet. "I have a responsibility to stay connected," she says.

It was her research that made her aware of the juried exhibition in Delaware entitled "Crossing Lines". That's where Megan is now, accompanied by fellow DC artist Sam Scharff. She left not knowing how she was going to be received, but not particularly worried about the response. She said, "I'm curious -- I don't know," but not much else about the subject. This led into our discussion of what a positive response is for Megan Mueller.

The review of her guerilla-style installations consists entirely of the length of time the piece stays up. She does not ask for permission to create. "I leave it, go check on it, if it's still there I gather," she says. She adds, "I hope people walk by," but she enjoys the discreetness of her art. She admits, "I've never had a piece stay up for very long," but it doesn't bother her. Instead she says, "I enjoy the idea of a life cycle."

Indeed Megan works with decay. Her materials get destroyed by her methods. This is never made more clear than when she applies spray paint to paper. The unfinished pieces shown on the right are the product of that application. Unique absolutely, long-lasting they are not. The chemical make up of the paint increases the rate of decomposure for the paper. "It's almost perfect," she says of a piece in the final stages of paint application. It's almost ready to break.

It was during this project that Megan began studying the make-up of her materials. She drew influence from a Top Chef participant. "[He] honors the food that he cooks and it's a spiritual kind of thing. I find that very attractive." In an effort to learn more about her materials, and perhaps honor them better, she took a paper-making lesson at Pyramid Atlantic. She is an avid user of www.freecycle.org, an internet-based program that lets people exchange materials or equipment. For her recent project dealing with maps Megan began reading Radical Cartography.

Her desire to learn has also led her to find artists producing similar or inspirational work. I asked her who she aspires to be like artistically. She responded with Mark Jenkins, Mark Bradford, and Elliot Hundley, three prominent installation artists. She admits that their methodology might be different, as Megan does not utilize a scientific method. In fact she smiles and tells me that sometimes she "wings it." It's an apt phrase as she later discloses that she gets a lot of her ideas while traveling by plane. She prefers the window seat, as I'm sure most would guess.

The focus switches over to Megan's recent body of work consisting of repurposed paper maps. She is "interested in playing with perspective and scale in spaces that will surround the viewer and allow for interaction." There is a nostalgic element involved as these maps are fading, decaying, and losing their effectiveness. She states that they might be considered, "pathetic or outdated" due to the advent of GPS. The study therefore consists of a dialogue on relevance, as much as anything else. Megan is not sure where that conversation might lead. In one piece out of the planned series, she is shreding two maps and weaving them together front to back. "I just want to see how it goes," she says. With this series though Megan is trying something different by seeking definitive feedback. She recently begun researching fellowship programs in DC. Her hope is to increase the number of discussions in which she is involved. Says Megan, "It is important for artists to articulate what they are thinking about."

While strictly an installation artist, Megan has begun looking at ways to archive some of her work. It's a difficult task as much of her work is "one time" and "site-specific." I ask her if she feels the environment becomes part of the work, and she replies, "Yes, Definitiely." This is especially true when she tweeks it, though often times the inspiration comes from the area as it already exists. She has found a new location for a piece of work, but did not disclose to me the specific location. We'll see if it gets advertised. Before I could even finish asking if she would change anything in order to better sell her art, she gave an emphatic, "No."

What is next then for Megan Mueller? She recently began tap dancing and going to the gym. She says, "it makes me think differently -- I'm working out a different part of my brain." Through freecycle she acquired a crock pot. Her intent is to melt candles and apply the wax to paper. She is attuned to both the relevance of her art and of her relevance as an artist. She says, "Relevance is a struggle. Organization is a struggle. You have to at least attempt to understand what is going on around you." It's not a problem for her, she's "excited to be involved when people do something new."

Clearly Megan Mueller shows no signs of stopping her inquiry into perspective and defining her own. As her body of work grows, so too will she. Perhaps only on the cusp of the DC art scene, Megan still has something valuable to offer it. Very rarely do fans of dialogue and debate find cold shoulders in this town. So while she may not have a handle on DC yet, she is learning to navigate it. She is learning well I might add. Influenced by one of her mentors, Megan presents herself as both "whimsical and insanely self-aware." Her old professor turned out to be a fellow exhibitor in Delaware. I ask her, "Anything you're scared to try out?" She pauses for a minute, of course, then replies, "I don't want to be stunted with where I am. I don't always have to be looking ahead, but I hope I live a life with direction."

Please click HERE to view Megan's website.

Photograph 1: Trash Object, sizes vary based on presentation (roughly 120" x 20" when opened and 36" x 48" when closed). Trash Object is the final and current condition of Duct Tape Fence. ©2009 Megan Mueller, All Rights Reserved

Article written by Chris Davis