Meet the 2020 RGI Graduate Award Winners: Megan Squire
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The RGI Graduate Award is awarded to emerging artists at the GSA Degree show, in recognition of outstanding work. The three recipients, Charlotte Hayes, Megan Squire and Charlotte Elizabeth, are all recent graduates from The Glasgow School of Art (GSA). The winners, from the School of Fine Arts, were selected by the RGI artist judging panel which consisted of Thyme James, Sean Ellcombe and the RGI President Adrian Wiszniewski RSA, Hon FRIAS, HRSW.
We interviewed (socially distanced) each of the artists about what winning the award has meant to them, how they are coping with lockdown life and about the upcoming exhibition. The RGI Graduate Award Exhibition has been rescheduled for June 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic.* Megan Squire talks about winning the RGI Award, future plans and what she has been working on since winning.
About the Artist
Megan Squire
Megan Squire is a painter from Preston, Lancashire and a graduate of Painting and Printmaking at The Glasgow School of Art. She has stayed in Glasgow since her graduation and continues to make work towards an ongoing project; focusing on self-positioning, constellating and self-made tropes. She works predominantly with water-soluble oils on canvas, diluting the paint and adding it in increments with a fine brush so that it sits within the grain of the canvas.
Interview with Megan Squire
How did the RGI Prize help with your practice?
Being one of the three recipients of the RGI prize gave me a huge amount of confidence to continue with the body of work I had been developing during my final year at GSA. My paintings had really only begun to take form and become something resembling their current state several months into my final year, just before we went into lockdown. In the midst of the pandemic, receiving the RGI prize felt like a revitalising influence on my painting practice – the support of the RGI has been invaluable. I’ve since had the freedom to continue to add to this body of work; creating and reflecting on self-made tropes, contemplating this idea of a constellation and ways to expand it – whilst continuing to develop my painterly technique with water-soluble oils.
What do you hope to achieve with the RGI Exhibition?
I’m really excited to get the chance to showcase my paintings with the RGI and to play with ideas of constellating in an exhibitionary context. I’m also looking forward to collaborating further with the other two prizewinners, Charlotte Roberts and Charlotte Hayes. Since receiving the prize, we’ve had an ongoing discussion as a group and have uncovered unexpected ties between our practices and current projects. This in itself has made me think about my paintings in new ways, which I’m excited to see manifest in the exhibition. I think the theme we’ve decided on speaks to something different in all our practices, whilst at the same time unites them.
What do you have planned since graduating?
My current body of work is an ongoing project and I plan to continue expanding this. I notice already that the paintings I have made since graduating are already taking on a new quality to the early paintings made in my final year, as I become more attuned to this particular way of painting on canvas. I’ve enjoyed the slow process of reflecting on and refining my use of the paint. At some point in the near future, I would also like to continue with my education and do a Masters in Museum Studies.
How have you been making/producing work during a global pandemic?
I have been very lucky in that I have been able to continue painting at home during the pandemic. My paintings are all very small, no larger than 30 cm squared, so I have managed to keep a small corner of my flat as my space to paint. Since graduating, I’ve found painting to be a calming influence in these times, it’s my time to switch off after a day’s work.
Artworks by the Artist:
‘Child’s Pose’, by Megan Squire. Water-soluble oil paint on canvas, 30 x 24 cm, 2020.
‘Bud Vase’, water-soluble oil paint on canvas, 20 x 25 cm, 2020.
‘Bud vase (Broken)’, water-soluble oil paint on canvas, 24 x 30 cm, 2020.
To view a larger image of the works, please click on the image.
*Please note that the exhibition will adhere to all Covid restrictions and due to this the dates may change.
Meet the 2020 RGI Graduate Award Winners: Megan Squire
The RGI Graduate Award is awarded to emerging artists at the GSA Degree show, in recognition of outstanding work. The three recipients, Charlotte Hayes, Megan Squire and Charlotte Elizabeth, are all recent graduates from The Glasgow School of Art (GSA). The winners, from the School of Fine Arts, were selected by the RGI artist judging panel which consisted of Thyme James, Sean Ellcombe and the RGI President Adrian Wiszniewski RSA, Hon FRIAS, HRSW.
We interviewed (socially distanced) each of the artists about what winning the award has meant to them, how they are coping with lockdown life and about the upcoming exhibition. The RGI Graduate Award Exhibition has been rescheduled for June 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic.* Megan Squire talks about winning the RGI Award, future plans and what she has been working on since winning.
About the Artist
Megan Squire
Megan Squire is a painter from Preston, Lancashire and a graduate of Painting and Printmaking at The Glasgow School of Art. She has stayed in Glasgow since her graduation and continues to make work towards an ongoing project; focusing on self-positioning, constellating and self-made tropes. She works predominantly with water-soluble oils on canvas, diluting the paint and adding it in increments with a fine brush so that it sits within the grain of the canvas.
Interview with Megan Squire
How did the RGI Prize help with your practice?
Being one of the three recipients of the RGI prize gave me a huge amount of confidence to continue with the body of work I had been developing during my final year at GSA. My paintings had really only begun to take form and become something resembling their current state several months into my final year, just before we went into lockdown. In the midst of the pandemic, receiving the RGI prize felt like a revitalising influence on my painting practice – the support of the RGI has been invaluable. I’ve since had the freedom to continue to add to this body of work; creating and reflecting on self-made tropes, contemplating this idea of a constellation and ways to expand it – whilst continuing to develop my painterly technique with water-soluble oils.
What do you hope to achieve with the RGI Exhibition?
I’m really excited to get the chance to showcase my paintings with the RGI and to play with ideas of constellating in an exhibitionary context. I’m also looking forward to collaborating further with the other two prizewinners, Charlotte Roberts and Charlotte Hayes. Since receiving the prize, we’ve had an ongoing discussion as a group and have uncovered unexpected ties between our practices and current projects. This in itself has made me think about my paintings in new ways, which I’m excited to see manifest in the exhibition. I think the theme we’ve decided on speaks to something different in all our practices, whilst at the same time unites them.
What do you have planned since graduating?
My current body of work is an ongoing project and I plan to continue expanding this. I notice already that the paintings I have made since graduating are already taking on a new quality to the early paintings made in my final year, as I become more attuned to this particular way of painting on canvas. I’ve enjoyed the slow process of reflecting on and refining my use of the paint. At some point in the near future, I would also like to continue with my education and do a Masters in Museum Studies.
How have you been making/producing work during a global pandemic?
I have been very lucky in that I have been able to continue painting at home during the pandemic. My paintings are all very small, no larger than 30 cm squared, so I have managed to keep a small corner of my flat as my space to paint. Since graduating, I’ve found painting to be a calming influence in these times, it’s my time to switch off after a day’s work.
Artworks by the Artist:
To view a larger image of the works, please click on the image.
*Please note that the exhibition will adhere to all Covid restrictions and due to this the dates may change.