April 09, 2023

E124 Megan Grant - Futuresteading artist following her gut + noticing the weeds at the service station

49 minutes

The talented Megan Grant bought the futuresteading book to life with her vibrant depictions of a seasonal, intentional and ritual rich life. After a year of being asked, this introvert who dreams and thinks in colours and pictures finally said yes to being interviewed. We chat about her intuitive approach to creativity, her deep need to keep trying despite making plenty of work that doesn't make her happy and how a magnificent collaboration with clothing brand Gormon came about - but why she rarely wears the pieces herself.

Show notes

Making art her life by intuition
She thinks and dreams in pictures
Why picture making is her language to connect to other people
Developing her style via lots of work that doesn’t make her happy until the ones that make her happy appear
Her love of children's art more than anything - tapping back into the innocence of children art - her main goal when she paints she has two brains that are in conflict which each other
Finding the balance between art that is intellectualised and art that is intuitive
Letting accidents happen and feeling her way through them
In art it’s important to make terrible work over and over again
The value of sleeping on things to clarify perspective
Being reflective to ensure evolution
Being happy for her work to represent her
The story of her involvement in the futuresteading book
Collborating with Gormon clothing
Being the kids of creative parents
Art becoming part of your DNA when you’re the child of an artist
Being prolific in your creativity
The balance of being an artist that needs to fit ‘normal’ life into it
The financial compromise of being a full time artist. Part by design and part by necessity
The life long sacrifice of being an artist despite the reward of being able to create freely
Creating commission pieces
Setting out with blind faith and hope
Despite a 20 year career, she is ‘only just getting started’
The breathtaking discovery that you could ‘paint for a living’
Tapping into art for arts sake
Why art is an important part of simply being alive
Art brings peace, purpose and the bleeding obvious through interpretation
Why artists are the provocateurs of our community
Feeling fortunate to have an endless source of hope and optimism because she has art in her life
Painting for mental health
Self containment that comes from her creativity
Grappling with the need to use art as a statement maker
Beauty is its own reason for being
Why art is culturally soothing
Noticing the weeds at the service station
Advice for her daughter
We have to go and make the inspiration happen by doing
Finding a drive, style and direction in your own time
“You can’t wait for the inspiration to come”