Creativity characterizes Moore’s approach to art

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN JANET HAMOUS
Many people would look at an old metal lawn chair and think “garage sale.” Megan Moore looks at that same chair and sees a piece of art.

This Marion High School senior has an eye for taking the everyday and making it into something unique. Almost any object might become the canvas for her artwork.

Moore began taking art classes in middle school at the prodding of her older sister.

“My sister was into art, and I always watched her with her sketch books,” she said. “She talked highly of Mr. Versch (art teacher) and encouraged me to get into art. I would draw at home on my own, mostly pictures of dogs and different animals.”

Moore lives in the country north of Florence and her father is a veterinarian, so animals have always been part of her life.

Moore said she may have inherited her love of art from her father.

“My dad did painting, so I have some natural talent,” she said.

As a freshman, Moore began her art training with an art foundations class that is a prerequisite for higher level art classes.

She then spent two years studying computer graphics and became an expert in the use of the Adobe Photoshop program. Her junior year was spent in an independent study program working with the software.

“I explored everything about it,” she said.

She went through the tutorials offered by the program and then did the exercises to learn the techniques.

“It wasn’t hard to learn,” she said. “You just have to be patient enough to go through it.”

Drawing with a mouse was challenging at first, but she soon got the hang of it.

“If you are good enough, you can do it in some detail,” she said.

Moore’s senior year has been spent in an art projects class where she is free to come up with her own ideas and then run with them.

“I get ideas from other artists who have done similar things,” she said. “I will think of something, then Mr. Versch gives me input and OKs the project. Then I’m free to go ahead.”

Marion art teacher Jim Versch has been impressed with Moore’s creativity.

“A couple things she’s done are pretty unique,” he said. “She took an old chair and did a painting on the chair. For another project, she took an old gumball machine and made it into a lamp. She’s done some interesting things.”

Moore said: “I have had that gumball machine since I was really little. I got the crazy idea to make it into a lamp. I really love flames, so I put flames on the globe.”

One of her favorite projects was painting a child’s metal lawn chair she found at home.

“I saw a picture of a dog and a flag on the Internet, and decided that was what I wanted to paint,” she said. “Then I researched other artists who had painted on chairs- their techniques and preparation.”

Moore said she loves having free rein to create. Her art projects class gives her that freedom.

“I’m not restricted. You get to do what you really love to do,” she said. “I’ll have done eight major projects by the time I graduate.”

Moore has experimented with a variety of art media. In addition to computer graphics, drawing and painting, she has done glass etching and design with paper.

Her favorite art piece is a picture of a horse she created from torn construction paper and hole punches.

Moore punched the holes one by one, and each hole was glued on individually. She contoured and shaded the horse using different colored dots.

“I drew it out first and then started with a spot and went from there,” she said.

Each dot had to be overlapped with the next to be sure the surface was covered.

“It took a long time to do,” she said.

In addition to her art work, Moore is active in sports. She plays volleyball, basketball and track and lifts weights. She also pitches a mean softball and is hoping that talent might translate into a sports scholarship.

She hopes to continue doing what she loves in college-playing sports and creating art.

“I would like to do some computer graphics as well as some other projects,” she said. “I definitely will take art classes all my years in college.”

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