An Interview With: Megan Wirick
Saturdaze: Please introduce yourself! Who are you, where are you located, and what do you do?
Megan: I’m Megan Elaine Wirick and I’m am a queer fine artist who also loves makeup! I am located around Philadelphia/NYC. I have a makeup account (@sluttycaboodle) where I post all of my makeup content and my personal/artist account (@myprettyplums) where I post paintings, drawings, digital illustrations and other NSFW [not safe for work] art!
Saturdaze: What got you started in the arts? Who were your early inspirations?
Megan: I’ve been an artist since I can remember, my earliest memories of art were drawing and painting cats from old calendars. I have been really interested in the digital and online space in relation to sexuality and consent which has inspired my most recent works. Some inspirations of studio artists are Nina Chanel Abney, Cecily Brown, and Heather Benjamin. Some inspirations from makeup artist accounts are @nowlosingsanity, @naezrahlooks, and @uglymakeuprevolution.
Saturdaze: When did you decide art was going to be your career?
Megan: I’ve always known I was going to pursue art as a career. I just didn’t know exactly how.
Saturdaze: You experiment with so many mediums! Do you have a favorite? Are there any other mediums you would like to work with in the future?
Megan: It’s really hard to pick a favorite because I use so much in my work. If I were doing a work on paper, my go-to would be watercolour, gouache, markers, and glitter. Glitter might be my favorite because it makes its way into a lot of my art, makeup, installations, paintings, literally anything I can put glitter on. I would love to learn more about video art so that I can combine my makeup art with my more traditional artwork!
Saturdaze: What does your creative process look like? What inspires your work? How do you deal with creative dry spells?
Megan: My creative process is almost never linear. Sometimes I see a colour composition that I enjoy and think “I’m going to make a makeup look out of that". Sometimes it comes from something someone said that may seem mundane but it hit my ear so poetically. I take a ton of photos of plants, colours, textures. I screenshot ads, patterns, or people. My work is an amalgamation of fun, colourful and playful imagery and the processing of trauma. I don’t really have dry spells as in I don’t have ideas or don’t know what to do, but I do get drained and feel like I am not motivated to make art. I think that this is ok. You don’t have to be making art all the time to be an artist, and taking breaks is ok.
Saturdaze: Your makeup instagram, @sluttycaboodle, is fairly new. How did you decide you wanted to expand your makeup to a different platform?
Megan: I used to have a makeup account a few times but kept deleting the accounts because I was so wrapped up in consuming products. I was always looking for what was new and what I could buy next instead of actually enjoying and using products. My original content was flat lays and talking about makeup I bought which felt unhealthy and led to a lot of over consumption of makeup. I decided to make a new account to focus on the artistry of makeup itself. I feel much happier with my content and don’t feel the need to buy the newest thing just to make a post anymore!
Saturdaze: What is one makeup product you couldn’t live without?
Megan: I love the Glossier Lip gloss! It’s so simple but is so aesthetically pleasing. It is the perfect gloss, and gives me all the nostalgic feels.
Saturdaze: What’s been the most challenging thing you’ve had to overcome in your career?
Megan: A lot of my traditional artwork is NSFW which makes it difficult to share my art. I have been shadow banned and threatened to have my artist account deleted, which is often the case for femme artists who are working with stigmatized content, especially women, femmes, trans, and non-binary POC. I have had my work covered up, taken down and hidden by academic institutions and social media platforms quite a few times. FOSTA-SESTA bills have made a huge negative impact on artists whose work may be NSFW, activists, queer folk and sex workers using platforms like Instagram, Paypal, and most content sharing platforms. I wouldn’t say I have overcome this obstacle, but it is something that I and many other creators have to find ways to make and share art even if your voice is consistently being silenced.
Saturdaze: What are you most proud of with your art to date? What’s your favorite piece and makeup look?
Megan: I am most proud of finishing my MFA in May of 2019. My thesis installation is my favorite piece to date. It was a 14’ x 9’ space filled with all of the things I love! Plants, glitter, colour, butts, sex toys haha. My favorite makeup look I’ve done so far would have to be my dolphin graphic liner look. It was obviously Lisa Frank inspired and dolphins are just so gay.
Saturdaze: What advice would you give to young artists just starting out?
Megan: Don’t be so hard on yourself. Just keep making art whatever that means to you. Try not to compare yourself to others. You don’t have to be constantly producing art to be an artist. You also don’t have to share your art to be an artist.
Saturdaze: How has being a part of the art community shaped you as a person?
Megan: I’ve learned so much from fellow artists and it has made me a critical thinker. I’ve become more confident as a person because I now have a community of like-minded folks behind me.
Saturdaze: What are your interests outside of the arts?
Megan: I have worked in libraries and am currently looking to pursue a degree in Library Science. Books are more than just stories and information (which are important) but they are beautiful objects, they are art. My partner and I have a zine collection and we were recently just talking about how amazing it would be to start a zine library/publishing house.
Saturdaze: And just for fun, what’s something most people don’t know about you?
Megan: I have a chinchilla named Mufasa and I’ve had him for 12 years! (:
Saturdaze: Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Megan: To anyone reading this please continue to support the Black Lives Matter Movement - if you can donate to support black communities, bail funds, relief funds and local Black-owned businesses. Continue to sign petitions, call your local officials and keep fighting. Be actively anti-racist and keep learning and unlearning. Abolish the police, abolish ICE, decriminalize sex work, dismantle forms of oppression. Also you should look up FOSTA-SESTA if you don’t already know what it is about! If you want to learn more about me and my art you can follow @myprettyplums and @sluttlycaboodle on Instagram and visit my website meganelainewirick.com. Thank you so much for this opportunity!
Saturdaze: Thank you!