Who are you?
My name is Meg Rennie, and I’m a visual artist and illustrator from Melbourne, Australia. Most of my pieces are mixed media collages. I colour my paper with acrylic paint, creating different textures and patterns with lots of brushes and sponges, then cut my shapes from these papers, layering them to build a picture. I love cinema, and art and design from the 1950s and ‘60s, and I think these are the influences that show in my work. I love to paint girls, children, domestic scenes, food and nature.
I have exhibited my work in galleries in Melbourne such as No Vacancy, in.cube8r, and Fort Delta, and at the SVA in New York, and my illustrations have been in publications such as Assemble Papers, Voiceworks, and Lateral Magazine. It is my dream in the future to create and illustrate picture books.
What are you working on at the moment?
At the moment I’m working on a project that I’m very excited about: making a series of illustrations of people cooking, for my first solo exhibition this June. I have been documenting people from all over Melbourne cooking and sharing their food, to explore how cooking connects us with our family, builds our communities, invites cultural exchange, and helps us to engage with our city. I’ve visited chefs, food writers, community leaders, artists, and passionate home cooks for this project, and had incredibly inspiring conversations about food, community, and creative pursuits – I’ve also been treated to a lot of delicious food!
The series is called The Melbourne Kitchen Project, and the exhibition will be held at Signal Gallery, Northbank, Flinders Walk, June 20th – 23rd.
Who are your biggest influences in the industry?
There are so many incredibly talented illustrators working now, I see something that blows me away every day! I love the work of Carson Ellis, Christian Robinson, Monika Forsberg, Min Pin and Yeji Yun, to name just a few. My greatest artistic influences are probably still the artists and authors I grew up loving: Tove Jansson, Lucy Cousins, Ludwig Bemelmens, Lauren Child, Mary Blair, and Eric Carle are all at the top of my list.
What was the last thing that inspired you?
A few weeks ago, when the wonderful poet Mary Oliver passed, I re-read her poem Wild Geese. It hasn’t left my head since. That poem doesn’t just inspire me to try and make something beautiful, as she did. It inspires me to live, and to really enjoy my life. To me, that’s the best and most important thing that art can do.
What do you like about Portfoliobox?
Portfoliobox has been a wonderful platform for me; I needed something intuitive and that would be easy to update, and it has certainly been that for me. The templates available have allowed me to easily create a portfolio that looks beautiful and is easy for people to navigate. I have also found the service to be very supportive and attentive."
