Conversations with Megan Olivia Ebel

Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Olivia Ebel

Hi Megan Olivia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Throughout my childhood, my parents always encouraged me to participate in the arts; I grew up playing violin and cello, I took art classes of every medium imaginable, I was a modern and ballet dancer well into college, I even worked in museums and small galleries as a young adult. The list goes on, and while education came first and foremost, I have never been discouraged to pursue a career in the arts and am privileged to have parents that are interested in me having such a challenging career. With that privilege, my parents imparted the responsibility of inclusion, accessibility, and lifting up voices with less advantage than I. I can hardly remember a week in my life where our family was not volunteering and giving back to the communities, we lived in. As an adult these values have become the cornerstone for my professional life, the importance of accessibility and exposure to the arts has led me down so many paths thus far. I was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and while I have called Houston home for the past 5 years, living in one city, or even country, for more than a year or two was certainly not the norm growing up. Both of my parents are from Canada and worked so hard to give me the choices I have today. I have lived all over the world working for NGOs, teaching, making art in Canada and the US, in Sudan, China, France. As a result, have really attached with a third culture kid mentality, constantly adapting and embracing change. In 2015, during my senior year of college at Sewanee – The University of the South in Tennessee, I gave birth to my son (now 5) and my world really turned upside down. Motherhood is a trip I was certainly not ready for; I had previously sat on an Amnesty International City Organizing Committee for Maternal Mortality, advocating with Planned Parenthood and other community partners for reproductive health resources in the Gulf Coast area, and I had worked with US Aid, The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation, and a group of young women in Marial Bai, Sudan advocating for girls education and marital rights, but single motherhood was a new, and quite isolating, experience. In fact, that theme–motherhood–has really shaped a lot of my artwork. Anyways, in an effort to be close to family, after graduating with a BA in Fine Art (focus in sculpture and new media), I moved back to Houston and started work as a high school art teacher at Yes Prep. I helped found the VAD school in Marial Bai and I had taught ballet to students through the Huntsville Ballet Conservatory, so that was an approachable job that meant I could fall into motherhood, develop an art program, and make my own art at the same time. At that time, a college professor suggested I begin an artist residency called ARIM (Artist Residency In Motherhood) started by Lenka Clayton to provide mothers an opportunity to create a studio practice out of their daily parenting work; I took my experiences with teaching, raising a child, and making work and mashed them into a daily journal practice that brought me to a new medium: fiber and refabrication. Through the residency, I learned of the Center for Contemporary Craft and delved deeper into the Houston arts scene; I also started collecting art at that time. My residency is, playfully, funded until my son turns 18, and while it waxes and wanes as my life and career has changed, it opened up the door for involvement in the Texas art community. About two years ago, I transitioned out of Yes Prep and into the national charter school system of KIPP Texas, at their flagship school on the Westside of Houston. I quickly jumped into the role of curriculum developer and content lead for Secondary KIPP Houston Visual Arts. Simultaneously, I was looking into advancing my career beyond secondary education and into Heidi Vaughan Fine Art I wandered. My partner actually had visited the gallery for a Valentines gift — a ceramic heart inscribed with “Teach Me Something New About Love” by HVFA artist and an artist I love dearly, Susan Budge. As HVFA represents 20 Texas artists, almost all who live in Houston, Heidi took me under her wing as she has with so many, and encouraged me to start working on my certification with International Society of Appraisers for fine art and as the Gallery Director, ultimately wrapping in my love of providing an accessible, educational art and collecting experience in the HVFA space. In addition to managing daily comings and goings, I work with Heidi on client collections, sales, management, appraisals, and with our amazing artists. I also manage outreach and have created quite a few new things essential to a Pandemic-era gallery. So far I have helped execute and curate 5+ exhibitions in our gallery space, and am looking forward to an amazing 2021-2022 program!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Professionally, I think everyone has times where the journey feels incredibly uncertain, or like you don’t know how to get to the next destination. I am certainly not immune to the feeling of “imposter syndrome”, in fact I would say my biggest critic is and always has been myself. But I usually just take a leap of faith and jump fully into what I’m interested in, even if I’m feeling uncertain or not as comfortable with what I think I need to know; I have learned to be resourceful and figure it out. Give or take, I feel things have fallen into place because I work hard: no job or person is beneath me if it provides a step towards an open door. Currently I am struggling a lot with the art making part of my career. While I am absolutely a creator–after all that’s how I stepped my toes into the art world in the first place–I do focus a lot more on my “day job” right now. I use a daily sketchbook to write down my thoughts and inspirations for later and while I try to keep one day a week, usually Mondays, to productivity on my current body of work, I will be making more time this year for my art practice and I am really looking forward to that. Right now, I am playing with some new mediums (think conductive material and hardware store gems), and revisiting a digital series I produced a few years ago with Puredata program with these new mediums. For the most part, I have relied on 2d materials over the past couple of years, and I am a sculptor/conceptual artist at heart, so I’m ready to get back to business with that! Mostly, I find the power of positive thinking and manifesting my goals through affirmations has gotten me through both the tough times as well as the best times of my life thus far. I try to never tell myself I’m incapable or unworthy and I treat everyone I meet with kindness and as a teacher. One can always learn more from another individual. While there have been so many obstacles to the path I have walked, personal trauma, loss, stubbed toes, etc. everything is already said and done, so why not make the most of the next step?

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am an artist, art collector/curator, and art dealer. Akin to an actor who can also sing and dance, I consider it a triple threat to have three different and in-depth perspectives of The Art Machine. Great artists can make beautiful objects. There are few artists who can successfully market themselves into a career without an advisor (such as a gallerist) to productively guide their work. Great collectors have the passion and aesthetic eye to pick works and artists with high growth potential. There are few collectors who can navigate the art market without the help of an insider that both knows market values and holds connections with auction houses. And of course, art dealership cannot work without understanding of the nuances of the artists and works they create, as well as an understanding of what buyers are needing to make their collections exciting, relevant, personal, and most importantly, financially worthwhile. A huge impetus for my transition from art education into art dealership, curation, and appraisals as the Gallery Director at Heidi Vaughan Fine Art is to be a resource for young people, like myself, to start collecting art. And I’m not just talking about matching art to your sofa. Instead, just as Gen XYZ’s love to take risks investing in high-volatility stocks/equities, real estate, commodities, etc., we absolutely should be treating art as an asset and an opportunity to grow wealth. Especially in an era where social media apps and platforms like Artsy.net or Saatchi provide access to early emerging artists and incredible surges in secondary market auction sales, investing in and buying art from living artists and learning how to navigate the secondary art market is crucial. And for those who are enamored with blockchain and crypto, there are even ways to invest in crypto art. Investment opportunities in the art world are booming right now. Now, more than ever, individuals in their 20s, 30s and 40s–new home owners and renters alike–are looking at the blank walls of that pandemic-home office and wasting money, spending big bucks for no-return wall decor at commercial decor and furniture stores. Alternatively, without knowledge of what we’re buying, we may buy from living artists, but collecting from artists who oversaturate their market or don’t have the opportunity of guidance by a dealer or funding by a collector is high risk; the artwork likely won’t hold value, for lots of different reasons. That’s wasteful, especially when there is a resource like myself and HVFA to source, advise, curate, manage, and educate you how to find art that is worth more than a pretty picture. I think Millennials absolutely have an opportunity to redefine what it means to be an art collector, and it won’t look anything like the exclusive and less-than-diverse archetype we’ve seen for the past 50 years as long as we’re equipped with the tools to navigate our investing. The bottom line: Millennials love “unique”. We love experiences. We love a deal. We love spending money on things that have return and that’s what a person like myself affords clients. I have immense pride in my ability to find any work of art, at any price range, and make sure you have the knowledge to responsibly collect and, when ready, divest. And, ok. You’ll also have a beautiful work of art to show off to your friends.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Be Kind. Always, always, always.

Contact Info:

• Email: megan@heidivaughanfineart.com
• Website: www.meganoliviaebel.com and www.heidivaughanfineart.com
• Instagram: meganoliviaebel