With playfulness and absurdity, Meg Stein (b.1984) addresses complex issues of femininity, vulnerability, and human fragility. Her work takes the form of biomorphic sculptures and sculptural installations, as well as explorations in animation, performance, and participatory work. Not only do the sculptures themselves take on lush fleshy forms, the materials used to construct these embodied objects are also the very tools used in everyday rituals women practice – makeup applicator sponges, nylons, tampons, nail polish, and others. Each piece is abstract, whimsical, almost otherworldly and yet inherently still familiar. She veils the immediate identification of these found materials in nuanced ways. One such method is the act of whitewashing as if to indicate that is the precarious path to purity, innocence and other cornerstones of feminine virtue. Although her sculptures appear unstable and fragile, she painstakingly solves problems of structural stability to ensure each piece is steady in its final form.
Stein received her MFA in 2014 and her BA in 2006 from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies across the country, including the South Arts State Fellowship for NY in 2018, The Garland Fellowship at the Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, GA in 2017 and residencies at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs NY, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, VA, among others. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions in 2018 at the Neon Heater in Findlay OH and in 2016 at the Ground Floor Gallery in Nashville, TN and in 2015, at Carrack Modern Art in Durham, NC, as well as in several national group exhibitions. Reviews, interviews and talks have been presented in publications and panels in many forms. Stein currently lives and works in Durham, North Carolina.
CV
EDUCATION:
2014 - Master of Fine Art UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, Chapel Hill, NC - Studio Art
2010 - Bachelor of Arts UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, Chapel Hill, NC - Philosophy
EXHIBITIONS:
2017
Another Body, SPARTANBURG ART MUSEUM, Spartanburg, SC
2016
How to Love Living Things, GROUND FLOORS GALLERY, Nashville, TN - solo exhibition
Glacial Forest, NARS FOUNDATION GALLERY, Brooklyn, NY
Vox XII, VOX POPULI, Philadelphia, PA
GOVERNORS ISLAND ART FAIR, New York Harbor, NY
Insistent Objects, GREENHILL GALLERY, Greensboro, NC
2015
Puzzling Margins, CARRACK MODERN ART, Durham, NC - solo exhibition
A Throat of Roses, ARTSPACE, Raleigh, NC - solo exhibition
Who’s Afraid of Feminism, A.I.R. GALLERY, Brooklyn, NY
Wide Open 6, BROOKLYN WATERFRONT ARTISTS COALITION, Brooklyn, NY
Future Perfect, TAPPS ART CENTER, Columbia, SC
Foundry, VISUAL ART EXCHANGE, Raleigh, NC
20 x 20 x 20, LSU ART GALLERY, Baton Rouge, LA
Inhabiting the Edge, THE SCHUYLKILL CENTER, Philadelphia, PA
Here to Go, MINT GALLERY, Atlanta, GA
Passage, VERUM ULTIMUM ART GALLERY, Portland, OR
2014
Proximity to Permanence, ALCOTT GALLERY, Chapel Hill, NC - solo exhibition
Parts of the Sum, ACKLAND ART MUSEUM, Chapel Hill, NC
Constructs, BLOCK GALLERY, Raleigh, NC
2013
For Your Consideration, GREEN GALLERY, Durham, NC – solo exhibition
Contemporary South, VISUAL ART EXCHANGE, Raleigh, NC
ACHIEVEMENTS:
2017
Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artist Grant, DURHAM ARTS COUNCIL, Durham, NC
NARS Foundation Residency, Brooklyn, NY
2015
Certificate of Recognition, Wide Open 6, BROOKLYN WATERFRONT ARTISTS COALITION – selected by Rujeko Hockley, Brooklyn Museum of Art
Third Place Winner, NATIONAL COMPACT COMPETITION, Baton Rouge, LA – selected by Brooke Davis Anderson, Executive Director of Prospect 3 & 4
Second Place Winner in Foundry, VISUAL ARTS EXCHANGE, Raleigh, NC – selected by artist Jeff Bell
2014
Merit Scholarship, OX-BOW, Saugatuck, MI
Nomination for outstanding student achievement in contemporary sculpture, INTERNATIONAL SCULPTURE CENTER, Hamilton, NJ
Graduate and Professional Student Federation Travel Award, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, Chapel Hill, NC
2013
Teaching Fellowship award, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, Chapel Hill, NC
2012
David A. Dowdy Jr. Award for Sculpture, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, Chapel Hill, NC
