My name is Megan Scott Scripps, a mother of two wonderful boys with special needs and visual artist. I grew up in Virginia but have lived in several other states before finally making my way back home. Nature I would say is the most prominent influence behind my work but I do like to occasionally dabble in current events or social statement pieces. I also feel a large push to use my work to support charity and in general help causes I believe in, volunteering whenever I can. But, having two children with several different ailments that hinder them from being in day care, or being able to leave them with family means that my time to do so is limited to school hours. I feel like this project would be perfect for me to tackle a social issue that I would like to explore, bringing attention to the importance of inclusion is incredibly important to me. My boys have been excluded from so much in their short lives because of a lack of understanding or unwillingness to be inclusive. My youngest is non verbal autistic and has adhd, while my oldest has adhd but is high functioning autistic with type one diabetes. Any time we are out in public and they act contrary to what is “normal” I see the stares, the whispers and just wish we could all get past differences of any sort, embrace them, celebrate them…..love them.

It’s really hard to narrow all of what is “my artistic practice” into a paragraph but I will do my best. For the most part I use material manipulation to express my appreciation for beauty in nature, thus making decorative art in literally just about any media I can get my hands on. I’ve got experience with just about every medium you can think of with a preference for paint and sculpture, jewelry, fiber arts and to a lesser degree drawing, photography and digital art. Most of my work starts out as a metal sketch, a seed of an idea that grows while in the process of actual material production. It shifts and changes, sometimes barely recognizable from the original idea that sparked the need to create. I think most people like to sketch the work down prior to starting, but to me it often will put chains on the project and kill what could have been an adventure so most often I will jump into a project and let it flow freely.

To me inclusion should mean everyone: no matter who you are, where you are from, what you have, that you should feel a sense of belonging. To know that you are an equal to everyone around you, and that your worth is the same. When I try to envision a piece that would embody that sentiment I come up with a large mural(life size so the viewer feels more connected) of a group of people of different ages, races and sizes all apart of a same group, they are all Americans: embraced and surrounded by the flag they are equal. Climbing up that flag are silhouettes of faceless Americans helping the next up in line. They could be anyone(faceless) they are all helping each other get towards an idea of oneness. My plan would be to make the closest figure holding their hand out and down to the viewer, and to have the hand come out of the painting in the form of a sculpture inviting the person standing in front of the mural another hand up. Pictures could be taken of the person holding onto the hand connecting them to the art making it interactive, and Including them into this artists utopian idea of inclusion.

I feel like over the last ten years or so we have been becoming more and more divided. The south is notorious for its warmth and southern hospitality and yet I’ve seen/heard so many interactions between people here in Roanoke that show that we are increasingly division minded. An us or them attitude, mostly politically driven but it’s bleeding into other areas as well. I would love for my work to be even a tiny part of why someone would feel more connected to others around them.

hard to pinpoint. The project would probably take me two business weeks if I had every school day available to me but with my boys it’s a bit harder to narrow that down so I would be safer in saying 3 weeks. I work very fast as I am super prolific which I would also say is my best artistic quality. Once I start I’m like a bulldog and very single minded.

I do have a friend I could ask for help if I was getting behind but I doubt that would happen.

Inviting others to feel connected, to be not only part of a painting/sculpture and connected in that way but to visually see how beautiful a world would be united as it should be with inclusion for all.

Space, understanding time allowance, sufficient light, scaffolding or ladder, permission.

Concerning the resume below. I’m in the process of moving, our landlord is making us leave because the market is high and we are packing and trying to find good schools so I can’t locate it but should someone need it in the future I can provide one. Here is a quick version, I’ve worked as a free lance artist, and given lessons for 9 years(mostly commissions all over the world via social media) and have several art references. I’ve shown work in galleries as well as donated art and volunteered my artistic services all over the states I’ve lived in previously and Roanoke. Before that I worked in fiber optics making parts for military weapons but that didn’t sit well with my conscience nor fed my need to create so I left. My works also been featured in the Roanoke news as well as the local paper. More detail can be had after I move upon request.