@SchulmanArt Blog Interview with Meri Bourgard
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| The artist Meri Bougard at work |
Meri Bourgard: I have always preferred to
personally know my clients and complete sales face-to-face but I’m excited
about now being able to reach the world market through the Internet. I have
been selling my work professionally since 1975 and online for the last 3 years.
Where did you study art?
MB: My early training was begun at home
copying Bridgeman’s figure drawings in my father’s art books. After majoring in Fine Art at Hunter College
as an undergraduate, I made my living free-lancing in Burlington, Vermont.
The community supported my art by commissioning me to do a wide variety of work
including paintings, portraits and drawings. I returned to school studying for
my Masters in Fine Arts at Pratt Institute. I attribute this program to helping
me find my true voice as a mature artist.
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| artwork by Bourgard available at www.meribourgard.com |
I prefer to work with mixed
media. Even when I am painting in oils,
a moment often comes when I feel compelled to draw into the wet surface with
pastel or graphite. I combine mediums in
any way possible to take a new direction with the work and keep it fresh.
How do you get inspired?
MB: Getting inspired comes from doing
the work. Since I search for found images,
starting with no preconception of subject, the only way I might prepare is by
thinking about a color or a medium I want to use. There is certainly fear and anxiety present
at this conceptual moment but once the marks begin and I confront what develops,
I’m always compelled to search for imagery. When I have identified a
recognizable fragment, I am inspired to continue and to release the image from
within the abstract composition. Emerging figures expressing timeless aspects
of human experience, come and go until the composition resolves.
Finding inspiration to make art in
the face of all the other responsibilities of life is a far bigger challenge
for me. Each one of my involvements,
being a wife, daughter, family member, home owner, car owner, landlord,
graduate professor, and fine art business owner takes care and maintenance.
Making time to be in the studio is sometimes a very difficult task.
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| Find her on Facebook |
MB: I have taken trips to Europe and the
coast of Maine
with the focus on making art but I also consistently work to integrate my art
with normal activities. At times, I have been successful setting aside an art
intensive section of the calendar, keeping it clear of all appointments and
being disciplined about doing nothing else but art. More frequently, I have to
re-learn again and again that if I don’t put art first, I can very easily
misjudge the amount of time other involvements may take.
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| artist's Brooklyn studio |
MB: My husband operated a cabinet-making
shop out of our cellar and as I work in the space now, it is among his tools
and equipment. I grew up with a family
used to working with their hands and building things, so having this
work/studio space has been both familiar and comforting. I love having a place
in my own home to work and my present studio space in Brooklyn
is like a underground haven. I’ve done
the best artwork of my career down here.
SchulmanArt:
Who has been the biggest influence on your creative development?
MB: Both my parents have influenced my
development as an artist. My father was
an illustrator and designer and he gave me my first drawing and painting
lessons. He commuted to NYC everyday from our Long Island
home and he brought his jobs back on the weekends as well. That gave me a
chance to learn by watching him work and showing me how to assist him in
projects of growing difficulty and responsibility.
My mother’s skills as homemaker gave
me early training in aesthetic judgement.
She has an unerring eye for beauty, balance proportion and harmony, and
in so many ways, shaped my ability to see.
Her fine craftsmanship in sewing, cooking and home decoration taught me
to strive for perfection.
Working with one’s hands was held in
high regard in our home and my Grandfather and Uncles helped to train me in the
use of tools and how to handle physical tasks that would normally be thought to
be a man’s domain. My first experience
of painting started on boats that we built ourselves and on sheetrock walls
while renovating our house.
Hi Miriam! I enjoyed this interview with Meri. I took a look at her web site and her work is wonderful. It's like looking at people through etched glass. So much motion and life in her works. Some of them make you feel like you are viewing clips from someone's past...portions of a dream. Thank you for the introduction...I liked her facebook so I can follow her work.
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