Bec Greening, Naracoorte Community News

The first artist to use the Naracoorte Regional Art Gallery’s Emerging Artist space is young local woman, Meg Miles.

Meg who completed Year 12 in 2023 has staged 13 works of digital art in her first solo exhibition.

The work is prepared on an iPad using the Procreate software which is for two-dimensional art.

Meg saved up to buy an iPad at the age of 14 with the intention of exploring digital art. She says she spent her early childhood drawing and painting in her spare time and has always been interested in art.

“It is something I have always been passionate about.

“Being introduced to digital art a few years ago really changed my perception of art and what I could make.

“It showed me a new way of creating,” she said.

She took art as a subject at the Naracoorte High School in Year 8 to 10 and then studied Visual Arts at Scotch College in Year 11 and 12. For SACE she presented portfolios – 20 pages of traditional art and 40 of digital art.

Her technique is to draw a plan of an art work on paper and refine it until it is a “decent sketch.” She then takes a photograph of the sketch and uploads it onto a blank page in the iPad program.

The process then is “like glass painting, layer on layer.” In the program, layers can be removed and replaced or left out entirely.

For the exhibition Meg has selected from works she had on hand, some for her Year 12 assignments and others done especially for the exhibition. She has framed the works for hanging and works are for sale as prints or in frames.

“With this exhibition, I would like to show other people what digital art can do,” Meg said.

Later this year Meg is hoping to study 2D animation in Melbourne.

The Emerging Artist space is in the Gallery’s hall foyer and hallway. Artists interested in exhibiting in this space are invited to contact Bec Greening at the Gallery on 0478 609 868.

This article appeared in the  Naracoorte Community News.