Meghan Lacey was raised in sunny and warm climate of Florida and has spent the last 12 years living in the beautiful foothills of Georgia. She credits her mother, Lyn Lacey, as her first inspiration for her artistic endeavors. While she was still very small, Meghan could be seen carrying her sketch book and pencils wherever she went and still keeps a sketchbook of her own today. She considers herself an oil painter in the classical realist method. She chooses to paint representationally rather than non-representationally (abstractly). Her mediums she enjoys most currently are oil painting, graphite drawing, colored pencil drawing, pastel drawing, charcoal drawing, watercolor painting, gouache painting, and pen and ink drawing. Her extended family is full of creative writers, artists and musicians so there is no end to the ideas and inspiration that she is able to experience. She encourages her students to be careful observers of the world around them, especially the natural world in all its complexity and beauty.

	For the last 12 years, she has taught students in art camp settings, private and small group classes and in studio art electives. Within the art studio, Meghan seeks to find the treasure hidden inside each individual to help them blossom into the person that they will become. She gains her inspiration from time spent outside in natural settings and her childhood memories are strongly linked to hours she spent as a child in the Florida sunshine. Cherished memories consist of eating warm oranges from her grandparents’ orange grove, climbing magnolia trees, building forts with palm fronds and running barefoot through the grass, and playing hide-and-seek with her brother and cousins in azalea bushes in the backyard. Meghan builds her artistic pursuits upon her own desire to stop, look and listen at the world and reflect upon each day with gratitude.

	While still in high school, Meghan received classical drawing and oil painting instruction from Chris DiDomizio in Atlanta, Georgia from 2006-2012 and watercolor painting instruction from Dylan Scott Pierce from 2009-2012. Meghan has taken private lessons from portrait artist Leah Burchfield Mantini as well as workshops from artists Amaya Gurpide, Jordan Sokol, Mia Bergeron, Anne Blair Brown, Alan Shuptrine, Brett Weaver, and Suzy Schultz. During the fall semester of 2016, she studied abroad at Oxford University through the Scholars' Semester at Oxford, where she studied History of Art as a registered visiting student. Meghan graduated with her B.A. in Art and Design, with a Concentration in Painting and a Minor in Art History at LaGrange College in May of 2017.  Currently, she is pursuing her MFA in Painting through Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA.

	For her educational philosophy, Meghan finds the etymology behind the words of “teacher” and “art” themselves to be inspirational. In Latin, the word, “do, dare, dedi, datus” means to “give” and this is the basic root for the Latin word, “doceo, docere, docui, doctus” meaning “to teach”. This essentially means that the etymology of the word for “teaching” means “giving”. So as a teacher, Meghan sees herself essentially as a “giver” and seeks to share the knowledge she has with others in a giving spirit. 

	However, most people today consider that creating art requires both innate “talent” or some kind of genius that a person is either born with or simply isn’t. How many times it has been said, “How talented they are!” but not “How skilled they are!” Why it is that people dismiss the hard work which is accomplished by an artist and only give them the praise of how talented they are? Even a natural inclination or desire towards a subject requires great dedication and hours of practice and study – but practicing the skill or artmaking in a vacuum without knowledge of the prior discoveries and advancements in their area of study is unwise. Most advanced art classes, give an assignment or set up a still life/model and then ask students to interpret the visual material on their own, without any step by step guidance on structure, color theory, or methodical process. While this personal impulse based art produces personally inspired, as it has been called “original” work, it does not allow artists to convey a greater sense of realism or more substantial impact on the viewer. In contrast, Meghan teaches her students with this philosophy of “giving” as a teacher (as has been given to her by her teachers) but also realizing that the root word of art in Latin is “ars, artis” which actually means “skill” or “method”. This implies that anyone can create realistic art, if they are given sufficient instruction in the skill-based art curriculum of fundamentals of art. This is a description of what is known as representational art as opposed to non-representational art. “Non-representational” art means that the art created is not supposed to “look like” the subject necessarily but instead may be a reflection of the person’s own emotional response without showing the actual visual detail of the subject.

 	An abstract or non-realistic piece of art may benefit from the understanding of realism techniques to choose to use or not use in a work of art, editing and enhancing the message of a piece during the artistic process. As an artist, a choice can be made to work in a realistic or non-realistic way, but without the skills to make something “look like” the subject there becomes only one choice, creating something that is inaccurately drawn or painted, simply because the artist lacks proper instruction. With academic representational art studies, an artist will be handed the tools to make a choice when to abstract the image and when to try to capture what they see realistically by their own judgement and decision and not a lack of options.

	For the last few hundred years, prior to the beginning of the 20th century, accepted and required art curriculum included Giotto’s Value Scale, the French Academy approach to drawing and painting, and the Charles Bargue drawing program, which allowed each student to progress through “Atelier” style assignments in a small group setting. Today, many art academies and atelier experiences are available all over the world, however, they usually are aimed primarily at teaching only adults and require full-time enrollment at an intensive level of commitment.
 
	Most students will likely be ready to begin classical drawing instruction and painting by age 11 or 12 as it requires personal dedication and interest in detailed projects and developing skills. Meghan does not usually recommend these classes in most cases to younger students, unless the student and parent are aware of the rigor of the assignments and feel that the student is sufficiently advanced enough for the challenge. This should be a joyous process of growth for the student, not one of frustration or discouragement at the inherent difficulty which exists in even the primary drawing exercises. Currently, classes are at a small size capacity, which allows all the students to individually receive help and encouragement from Miss Meghan as they create their art projects. 

	If a student wants to continue to study in an atelier beyond the classes that Meghan is teaching, these courses will provide a necessary foundation to continue further education in an atelier, a traditional arts college or another artistic career such as an animator, graphic designer, architect, etc. The portfolio of work can be assembled to apply for art programs such as these, art scholarships or art grants for atelier programs as well. Many practicing artists in these fields will find it beneficial to sharpen their drawing skills and add more color theory understanding to their projects, adding more professionalism to their overall quality of work. 

	One very important foundational belief that Meghan holds is that it is the desire of the artist to grow, improve and pursue art which makes them a success. The determination to keep on going and not give up is what sets artists apart, not even the amount of “talent” or skill they may possess. So remember, yes, anyone can be an artist, but only the ones who believe will truly see what they dream.

        Meghan enjoys spending time with her family, playing the piano, going on adventures with her two dogs, Jem and Scout, watching BBC or Masterpiece TV miniseries and cooking new yummy recipes.

She looks forward to seeing you in art class!

Meghan Lacey Fine Art