Meet the Artists: Megan Dowsett
Meet Megan Dowsett
Artist, Illustrator, Bookbinder, Museum professional & Mum!
Ask me whose kids have had the most fun in lockdown.. I would probably say hands down – ‘Megan’s’! She herself would probably be the first to disagree – her honest portrayal of motherhood, combining work, home-stresses, art and creativity is unique, refreshing and real.
Megan’s art is like jumping in a storybook – her magical, delicate, colourful style and illustrations take you to a place of wonder.. where everything is possible and imagination is king (or queen)!
Card Design for THE DASH FUND Project
I first met Megan years ago within a busy learning department and a flurry of art workshops – ideas bouncing off every surface. Her creative workshops and programmes were something else; you always knew they would be great quality. Our audiences loved her - ‘will it be Megan running the art club / workshop, etc?’, she was generous with her time, teachings, and skill sharing - children and adults would leave inspired, energised or in her own words ‘on the Road of Joy’.
SWIMMER
I was lucky enough to do some coaching sessions with Megan last year, so she knows about coaching and has supported the vision of the campaign from the get go. So I was thrilled when she said she would do an illustration for me. The ‘Swimmer’ for me is a great ‘metaphor’ for Coaching; freedom, space, clear, simplicity, flow, ‘being in the zone’ and ‘diving straight in’.
In this interview Megan takes us through her journey of becoming an artist, how the only way she knows how to parent is creatively and her ‘One Day’ dreams of artist books that make children - one, or many - ‘know exactly and individually how special they are. To see their own world or their own work reflected back at them by an artist’
Megan and her girls
Can you tell us about you and your art?
I'm a collage artist, illustrator and bookbinder, alongside working part-time as Schools Programme Manager in a Museum.
I am happiest:
when I am making personal, hand-made books for children - often my own children, but also by commission or as part of wider collaborative projects. I work with collage and mixed media to tell the stories of people, places and memories we have known and loved.
when I am enabling children, adults and everyone in between to find confidence, inspiration and joy in the arts - through experimentation and play, investigating objects and their stories, and exploring nature and the world around us.
What are your first memories of ‘being creative?’
Gosh ... well, I have a shocking memory, so these memories won't be going back far enough. Isn't everything we do as children creative?!
Here are three fond memories:
putting on shows with my brothers and the Asher family children - squabbling and rehearsing all day, and then performing in the evening
the 'art club' my Mum did with me when I was about 8 - I think we managed about 5 sessions before we got distracted
Writing my first novel when I was 9!
What made you decide you wanted to work within the arts?
To be honest, I always loved art but I wasn't particularly good at it - and anyway, 'there's no career in art', right? - so it was a few years before I had the courage to say 'to hell with it' and do it anyway. I was in my second year of teaching and the only positives in the whole year were the after-school art club and the 'Take a Seat' project, which grew wings and flew, and had the kids and I returning to keep going in our lunchbreaks. So I handed in my notice, took a massive paycut and found myself in an admin job at Dulwich Picture Gallery, spying on the artists and interrogating them about their career choices. A year later, I went freelance and signed up to a part-time art foundation course.
“We all have an inner artist, but it doesn’t really matter what we create in the end, does it? Creativity is a road of joy”
How has your creativity benefited (or helped) you with being a parent?
Gosh I don't know! I don't know how to be any other kind of parent! I remember after one ferociously messy week, my husband looked at me with concern and suggested that our daughter doesn't HAVE to grow up to be creative. And my answer is still so true ... absolutely, OF COURSE she doesn't have to grow up to be creative, but the only way I know how to parent is creatively. So, we are forever trying out new techniques, junk modelling, printing, beading. Seeing what happens if ...
And in lockdown, I've brought the creativity to home-schooling that I think the school curriculum lacks (but I won't pretend it was easy, always successful or that I didn't cry!). I'm pretty sure a creative spirit also made it easier to 'wing' the whole thing.
How has your ‘creativity’ helped you through lockdown?
My creativity has developed wings, scales, a tail, the ability to change colour and shape and size ... it has kept me sane and driven me insane. The ideas I've had have been absolutely inspiring, all-consuming and overwhelming. Ultimately, I found my niche by developing small engagement projects that enabled children and families to connect with each other in non-digital ways;
Megan’s Dragon Trail for local children during Lockdown
We painted dragons and hid them in the woods, in a trail that led to a nest of 'eggs' (take one and leave the rest).
We had an art week and made an exhibition on the landing outside our flat.
We developed a mud kitchen in the communal gardens that is used by families across the estate, with contributions popping up from all corners of generosity.
I made a mix 'n' match book of mythical creatures created by 14 children in the local area. And when I ask my children what they've learnt, the things they value are those which have created connections like these. I think my creativity enabled us to access our community.
How do you cope with the ‘Juggle’ of being a mum and your work?
I allow myself an evening of TV each week. Sometimes two. You have to have a night off! In fact, I think that’s how Liam and I both cope - we are 'on' or we are 'off', for both work and - as far as possible, for parenting.
What would be your tip to a new parent?
It gets easier! Liam and I alternated who put the baby to bed in the evening from the very beginning. For us, this had benefits of equality that reached further than we ever thought when we tried it. It meant, the baby was willing to drink from a bottle at bed time, and later, to go to sleep independently. But most importantly it meant that Liam was fully involved in the whole of parenting from the outset. I think to be a working mother, we have to be able to trust others with our baby too, and that's not easy when we've known EVERYTHING about them from the very beginning.
What are you thoughts around creativity and wellbeing?
ISometimes it takes two hours of procrastination before I'll sit down to an art project. And yet, when I do, I am absolutely in the present. I wish this, and only this for everyone. Yes, we all have an inner artist, but it doesn't really matter what we create in the end, does it? Creativity is a road of joy.
What are you big ‘Art’ Dreams? What are your next big plans for your creative work?
One day I will have regular commissions, both private and funded, for artist books that make children - one, or many - know exactly and individually how special they are. Sometimes I wonder whether I'd like to be 'discovered' by a children's publisher, but ... no - for me the magic of what I make is in the ability for a child to touch the original artwork - and to see their own world or their own work reflected back at them by an artist.
So far, each book has been an incredible learning journey for me, and I hope this will continue - the breadth of occasions, stories and audiences for artist books is surely bigger than the time available in my life and beyond!
