About Megan

Contact Me:

meganlougallant@gmail.com

Biography

An advocate for the power of creative practice to transform individuals and community, Megan is passionate about connection and using creativity to manifest meaningful experience and expression. Her work explores the connection we have with our selves, our natural world, and with each other, both symbolically through art making and experientially through community engagement. She’s utilized her Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from the Kansas City Art Institute (2002) to create artistic experiences for a broad range of audiences, from working with Arts in Prison as a volunteer instructor and vice president of the board, to co-creating a public food forest and sculpture park for which she was a recipient of a 2012 Rocket Grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation, Spencer Museum of Art, and Charlotte Street Foundation. Megan has attended residencies at Jentel Artist Residency Program (2012), Blue Mountain Center (2013), and Missouri Bank (2015 & 2016). She was the Artist in Residence at the Hotel Phillips in Kansas City, MO for a year spanning 2015-2016, where she maintained a studio and engaged hotel guests. Megan co-created and taught the No Boundaries Teen Art Initiative through the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, guiding teens from diverse backgrounds into developing their self-expression (2014-2017). She has led art programming for all ages, including adult and youth classes with Montalvo Art Center (2021). She has exhibited her work at numerous venues in the United States, and been a guest speaker at Endicott College, Kansas University, and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art. Megan continues to develop not just creatively, but professionally, having completed the Artist Inc. program in 2016, and Artist Inc. Advanced in 2017.

Curriculum Vitae

Educator

Montalvo Arts Center, Summer Program, Saratoga, CA, 2021

Created and taught week long summer camp classes for youth,

Becoming a Tree, and Constructing Community

Montalvo Arts Center, Adult Workshop, Saratoga, CA, 2021

Created and hosted Connections in Nature workshop

Greenworks, Guest Artist/Teacher, Kansas City, MO, 2018, 2019
Open Spaces, Triangle Learning Program,Kansas City, MO, 2018

Created and hosted Nature Up Close workshop

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, No Boundaries Teen Art Initiative, Kansas City, MO, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

Co-created, recruited students through schools, and taught an 8 week program for diverse teens from across the KC Metro

Arts in Prison, Lansing Correctional Facility Lansing, KS, 2006-2008

Created and taught weekly classes to men in the maximum security unit of the Kansas state prison

H&R Block Artspace, The Big Draw, Kansas City, MO, 2008

Hosted a drawing workshop based in memories as part of a day of drawing

Community Projects

Growing Garden, Saratoga, CA, 2022

An event created and hosted for Montalvo Art Center’s ArtSplash, asking people to make and “plant” flowers with their wishes. The garden of collective paper flowers grew in intention, inspiration, and scale as it expanded across the lawn throughout the day.

HeartThreads, Kansas City, MO, 2016

Hosted opportunities for people to make clay figures of loved ones and archived their experiences on the website www.heartthreads.org

Spark Farm Park (with sculpture), St. Joseph, MO 2013-2017

Co-creator in transforming a vacant, urban lot into a permaculture-inspired food forest and sculpture park. Awarded a Rocket Grant funded by the Andy Warhol Foundation to help execute this project.

Cross-Cultural Drawing Exchange, Kansas City, Missouri, USA and Travandrum, Kerala, India, 2009

Organized and hosted drawing workshops for foster children in KCMO and

orphans in India in which the children’s drawings were exchanged as gifts

Immobilized, Jefferson City, MO, 2008

Co-created an art installation at the defunct Missouri State Penitentiary for Art Inside the Park, speaking to the difficulties of children without resources and/or an incarcerated parent. Kids’ bicycles, used as part of the art installation, were fixed up and gifted to children of Big Brother Big Sister’s AMACHI program, which mentors kids with an incarcerated parent

Awards/Artist Residencies

Artist Inc. Advance 2017 Audience Award, Kansas City, MO, 2017
Resident Artist, Hotel Phillips, Kansas City, MO, 2015-2016

Maintained an active art studio open to visitors and engaged hotel guest

Missouri Bank, Artist in Residence, Kansas City, MO, completed 2016

Missouri Bank, Artist in Residence, Kansas City, MO, completed 2015
Blue Mountain Center, Artist Residency, Adirondacks, NY, completed 2013
Charlotte Street Rocket Grant Recipient, Kansas City, MO, 2012

Awarded for Spark Farm Park (with sculpture)

Jentel Artist Residency Program, Banner, WY, completed 2012

Guest Speaker

The making of Spark Farm Park (with sculpture), Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri 2013
Art Making and Community Practice, Endicott College, Beverly, Massachusetts 2013
Being an Artist, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 2012

Volunteer Activities/Board of Directors

Arts in Prison, Vice-President of the Board, Kansas City, KS, 2009—2010
Arts in Prison, Secretary of the Board, Kansas City, KS, 2008
Arts in Prison, Volunteer Instructor, Lansing Correctional Facility, Lansing, KS, 2006-2008
Heritage Action, Secretary of the Board, St. Joseph, MO, 2006-2007

Worked to protect, restore, and celebrate historically significant architecture in St. Joseph, MO

Education

Artist Inc. Advance, Kansas City, MO, 2017
Artist Inc., Kansas City, MO, 2016
Kansas City Art Institute, B.F.A., Sculpture, Kansas City, MO, 2002

Additional Endeavors

Women’s Self Defense & Certified Krav Maga Instructor, Warriors Academy KC, Kansas City, MO, 2017-2020

A certified black rank in Krav Maga; created and led an all women’s training program.

Cozy Keeper House & Pet Sitting, Owner/Operator, Kansas City, MO, 2015-2020

Live-in care for people’s homes and pets while they are away.

Built a strong base of repeat clients with continual new referrals.

Dahlquist Studios, Artist Assistant, Kansas City, MO, 2015-2020

Customer communication, workshop assistance, email database management, data entry, strategizing studio projects, art production.

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Interim Docent Educator and Volunteer Coordinator, Kansas City, MO, 2014-2015

Managed volunteers and docents, including communication and scheduling, organized educational sessions, scheduled school tours.

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Program Administrator for No Boundaries Teen Art Initiative, Kansas City, MO, 2014-2015

Managed communication with schools and students, program budget, recruiting, application process, logistics.

Goode Food Delivered, Owner/Operator, St. Joseph, MO 2012-2014

Distributed local organic-practice produce from rural into urban areas.

Built relationships with farmers and an online ordering system, managed sales, communicated with customers, delivered orders.

At our peak we delivered 125 boxes of produce to employees at KU Med Center each week in addition to supplying our base customers.

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Security and Visitor Services Manager, Kansas City, MO, 2009-2011

Headed the security department for three locations across the metro.

Responsible for security systems, emergency protocol, public safety, safety of artwork.

Managed a team of 12-15 security officers, including scheduling, payroll, job descriptions, budgets, hiring/firing.

Improved visitor interface with front-line staff by creating and managing a Visitor Services position.