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7 A P R I L – 5 M AY | 2 0 1 7
W W W. S A N TA B A R B A R A S E N T I N E L .CO M
ON CANVAS
by Margaret Landreau
In the last 18 years, Margaret Landreau has accumulated 13 years of serving on the Board of Directors of Santa Barbara County arts-related nonprofits and has worked as a freelance arts writer for 10 years. She creates her own art in her Carpinteria studio.
MEGAN LEAL: 3-D ARTIST
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’ve always been drawn to artwork by self-taught artists. Lacking indoctrination and the need to meet other people’s standards, their innovation comes forward and creativity comes straight from the heart. The art is often more outstanding because of the purity and clarity of the artists’ vision. Innovation comes to the forefront when Megan Leal creates. Receiving a degree in human communication at CSU Monterey Bay, she went job hunting but kept encountering people doing artwork for a living and thought “I want a job doing what that person is doing. That’s how I want to live. I want a life like theirs.” Megan began creating the life she was really drawn to, making artwork and “Creating my own place in the universe.” Lacking formal training in art, she began making art her way. Drawing on her interest in animals, she creates resin sea figures. Megan paints an abstract or representational background directly on wood, mounts the figures onto the wood, and seals everything in place with resin.
Having created this unusual process, she achieves an end product that has a different effect on the viewer than a traditional two-dimensional painting. Megan’s results are dramatic and unique. She understands how to create interest using contrast, including bright
Reaso ason n to Hop e Ash Wednesday Service - Wednesday March 1st - 7:00 pm Lenten Midweek Services - Wednesdays March 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th & April 5th - 7:00 pm Maundy Thursday Worship - Thursday, April 13th - 7:00 pm Good Friday Tenebrae Service - Friday, April 14th - 7:00 pm Holy Saturday Vigil Service - Saturday, April 15th - 7:15 pm Easter Sunday Worship - Sunday, April 16th - 9:30 am
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colorations and accents. The multiple dimensions catch your eye and draw you into her worlds of color splashes, as if you were diving into the water. Not limited to 3-D executions, her abstracts stand alone and continue to give that feeling of diving in and luring you into another world or space. She is learning cyber-marketing, using Instagram, her website (www. abstractexplosions), her Facebook page, and making YouTube videos of herself creating art. She says, “My parents owned their own business, and watching them build and be responsible for their company was a huge inspiration.” Her best experience was encountering a woman who had purchased one of her paintings and then became homeless. The woman told Megan that during this difficult time she would take out and decorate whatever space she was in with the painting. To Megan, “Knowing that someone would have my paintings with them on their lifelong journey was gratifying.” Megan’s art sells at the Cottage Hospital gift shop, and she invites you to come meet her in person every Sunday in Santa Barbara at the art show along Cabrillo Boulevard. E-mail her (megan@abstractexplosions.com) in advance to get her exact location if you come to visit.