From her past and present stencil based art, to her work with Ruby & Sage on jewellery, as well as her renditions of characteristic artwork on reclaimed surfaces, Megan Dell is an over flowing glass of creativity. Her work evokes a sense of the urban, yet with deep, reflected and contrasting motifs from more a natural world – often tending towards allegorical and iconic compositions.

When we talk about a lot of artists works, utilising words like those above can only ever go so far. With artists like Megan Dell, most of the time the art can speak for itself in a much more succinct and personal way than any we can conjure up – and they also usually sound much better coming from the artists themselves.

With her exhibition with Nicole Tattersall (who we interviewed back in September 2010) – DRIP – opening this week at For Walls Gallery in Melbourne, we managed to do what we try to do best and grabbed some of those words from her about her art, jewellery, stencils, skateboards, timber and oh so much more …

Can you remember the first time you seriously sat down and thought that you would love to pursue art and creativity as a major drive in your life? What was the trigger?

I’ve been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember – it was something my parents always encouraged us kids to do if we were bored. If we ever complained about being bored, they would request a drawing of something.

A big motivation for me to keep drawing was when my older sister read my diary in high school, and then went and told everybody which boy I had a crush on. It was around this time that I stopped writing down my feelings, and started drawing them instead!

You have a show coming up at For Walls Gallery in Melbourne – what kind of work have you put together for the show?

I’ve been working on a collection of new pieces that are painted on salvaged timber from the Daintree rainforest in Far-North Queensland. My Uncle lived up there in a humpy for years and would create works of art out from trees felled to make way for roads. When he moved to Victoria, he had the tree trunks trucked down with him and spent years slicing up the timber. He fell sick, and the timber has been drying in a secret hide-out for the last six years, which is why I have selected some pieces to paint on.

The artworks for DRIP are all very personal because they have been painted at a difficult time for me – right now my Uncle is critically ill, and in hospital …
  
You have worked with the drip format a fair bit as a theme for this show, where did the idea come from and what is it about dripping ink and paint that you think fascinates people? Is it the sheer chaos and randomness of them?

When I started stencilling about eight years ago I quickly became interested in experimenting with spray paint and I would spray it on thick so that it would drip heavily. I also started adding acrylics and gouache to the mix, painting layers of water over and over the piece to blend it all in and create a weathered look.

I think people like the way it adds depth to the piece, giving you a hint of how many layers make up the painting – each piece has it’s own mystery.

This isn’t the first time you have partnered up with Nicole Tattersall – can you tell us about your work with her in the past and how working with her has contributed towards this next shows output?

Nicole and I first met when she organised the Street Art For Ashes art auction, which was a fundraiser following the Black Saturday bushfires – that girl is so pro-active and organised it puts me to shame.

We had an exhibition together last year, titled ‘Split Personalities’, which was held at No Vacancy gallery and was well received. At the time we spoke about doing a follow up, so when the opportunity came up with For Walls gallery we jumped at the chance.

Nicole’s paintings often feature animals, and she’s influenced me to include a couple of little critters in some pieces for DRIP.

In the past you have used a lot of reclaimed wood for your work – is this still an ongoing theme and what is it about wood that speaks to you when putting together a piece?

I really don’t like painting on canvas, it has no character and I’m not keen on the texture. I like the freedom that wood provides, and I am pretty rough with my paintings – I’m often sanding them back or scratching them on my studio floor to rough up the paint so that it doesn’t look shiny and new.

Each piece comes with it’s own story, it’s been on a journey and I am just adding to it.

Tell us a bit about your stencil art influences? What first drew you to that style, and who did you first look to for ideas –  and who do you look at now that you believe are doing positive and new things with stencil art?

When I first moved to Melbourne after high school, I focussed on painting as I didn’t know anybody in the area and needed something to keep me busy – I’d been a big fan of the street art around town for a long time, so it was a natural progression.

Once I moved here (to Melbourne) there were a bunch of us on the Stencil Revolution website who would catch up every so often to trade pieces and have exhibitions, so that was a constant source of inspiration. These days I am well out of the stencil art loop, but for inspiration I often flick through art, design, and skateboarding magazines as well as surf the web to check out what others around the world are doing in art and design.

There are so many talented artists out there who I think are really pushing the boundaries and doing great things, but off the top of my head I can say that I’m really enjoying the work that Meggs, Kid Zoom, Yok, and Creepy are doing – not exactly stencil work, but still amazing nonetheless.

You’ve also delved into working on a fair few skateboards – tell us a little more about the skateboard as a canvas, and what makes you think it feels so suitable for your style?

I prefer to paint on used skateboards that are a bit beaten up and have some character. I find they suit my work because my paintings are sort of gritty and rough – not picture perfect.

You also co-founded Ruby & Sage, and make jewellery through there. How about this side of your creativity? How did it come about, and how different is it working with a 3D, wearable medium, as opposed to painting?

I’ve been experimenting with the medium for about two years now, and it has really taken off. My business partner and I have a few stockists around Melbourne and interstate, and we sell online and through local design markets. We both work full-time, so it’s a bit of a juggling act for me with my art and Ruby & Sage as well.

I never imagined I’d be making jewellery as a hobby, but it’s great to have something creative that I can do other than painting and drawing.

So what do you have planned for the rest of the year? What other projects do you have coming up?

Straight after DRIP, I’m in another exhibition at For Walls gallery – this time with a few more artists. I’m also in a big street art exhibition that will be held at Brunswick Street Gallery in late May titled Urban Art Throw Up.

After that, I’m heading overseas for a little while, so I will be keeping a low profile while I travel around Europe.

Check out Megan Dells website here, and the Ruby & Sage website here. Check here more info on DRIP, opening this week at For Walls Gallery and the Facebook event page – also check out Megans flickr site as well!