Painting Dreams: Meegan Feori

Meegan Feori is an Instructional Designer in the fashion industry, with experience in the areas of product development, production, merchandising, textiles and apparel graphics. She has worked with Oakley, Roxy, O’neill and even the Vans Triple Crown. Her artwork is both gentle and majestic, with colours that radiate warmth, like stained glass on a sunny day.

Meegan lives in San Diego and we caught up with her to talk about surf art and the life she weaves into it.

Hi Meegan! Great to meet you, how’s your day been and what have you been up to?

Hi Evgeniya and thank you I am doing well. Congratulations on your new little one! This week is an in-between week. Summer session is over and the semester starts in a week or so, I have been using my time to catch up, prepare and relax. This morning I went surfing and dropped some paintings off to be documented. Now I am procrastinating by completing your interview. I really should be writing my graduate school papers and preparing for the classes I am teaching this fall. Do not worry; I have time this afternoon and this evening. I do not miss deadlines.

Sounds busy… Have you had time for any new art projects lately?

Yes, I just finished 3 new paintings with a magical realism and Japanese anime twist. In one , in another she is about to be swamped by huge set waves and a third where she is cross-stepping beautifully.

What is even more exciting is now I can start the canvasses that I dyed and that have text across them. They have their textile and graphic design elements, now I get to add my painting to them. I have 15-20 of these “on deck” to be painted.

Also I am finishing up a graphic for the Girl Scouts and the American Welding Society. They are teaming up to promote girls in welding. It is a fun volunteer project that my friend Joan Butler approached me to complete. Hopefully, I will have more time for artistic volunteer projects. I feel bad, I just had to turn down doing some volunteer work for Stand Up Paddle Industry Association, they really liked a t-shirt graphic I completed for the Dana Point Outrigger Canoe Club.

We love your painting style. Your surf images have so much depth between the lines. How did you develop your style and do you have any artists who inspired you?

My style continues to be a compromise of what I can do. For a long time I painted, simplified and naively, as I do because I could not paint any other way. Through practice I improved my skills, now I can choose to paint the way I do. .

I visit museums, go to gallery openings, you can even say there is something in the water when it comes to artists who represent surfing. Yet, right now I feel like I am looking out at the world less and in towards myself, what I want to do, more.

There’s a strong sense of love in your paintings. Couples sharing waves, families, really romantic scenEs – and also a love of nature. Is this art reflecting your life?

My paintings most certainly reflect my life, thank you for your thoughtful observation. A lot of my paintings are of friends and family. Others are my dreams and hopes. I like to share my paintings; however, they are also selfish. I make them for me, because I enjoy doing so.

What is your favourite artistic medium? Do you have any mediums you would like to explore more in future?

I paint with acrylics, suits me because I can paint in my living area. I also have created with ceramics and blown glass.

If you could conjure a dream surf session with anyone living or not, where would you be and who would you be with?

After dinner my family and I were talking about this idea for all of us to go to the beach together. When my sisters and I were younger my family and I would all go to the beach Friday evenings and Sunday mornings. It is difficult now to get us all together. So my dream beach surf session would be with my entire family and as many friends as possible with waves enough for everyone. There is a place on the central coast, where we go camping, I would like my dream session to be there, a repeat day of a “best day ever” memory, this time with more friends and family.