Colored cotton canvas at BES

Painter and printmaker Meg Musgrove will be showcasing a selection of her color studies on raw cotton canvas at BES on Main Street in Millerton, starting with an opening reception on Saturday, Nov. 11, from 5 to 8 p.m. 

With meticulous attention to detail and a commitment to quality, every piece is made with the utmost care, from the selection of the water-based inks and 100% cotton fabrics to the construction and finishing. 

Born in Los Angeles, Musgrove exhibited widely under her maiden name, Berk. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from New York University in 2001, and in 2008, she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute. 

Her work, which was narrative and personal in nature, shifted when she started a family. Musgrove explained, “When I had kids, I stopped painting so much and turned to printmaking as a way to keep my practice going.” After working for a time doing surface design for wallpaper companies, Musgrove started her own textile company (megmusgrove.com). She clarified, “Freelance just stopped being fun.”

More recently, Musgrove reignited a passion for painting by exploring color. This experimentation has led to the wall hangings, which Erica Recto, owner of BES, saw and immediately wanted to show in her shop. Musgrove emphasized: “Erica, apart from being a great person, comes to people whose work she loves and whose practice she’s interested in and puts a lot of trust in them to bring their best work to the shop. She has put a lot of trust in me in terms of what I want to bring to the shop and in doing this show. That means a lot.”

In BES’s introduction to the show, Recto writes that the work “emphasizes intuition and joy while avoiding pattern and resolution.” When asked about this idea as it relates to her process, Musgrove shared: “I always try to stop before they’re finished. There’s an uneasy feeling, and that makes it more accessible to people.” 

Her inclination to leave a touch of ambiguity invites viewers to engage with her work, she said: “Things that are too well resolved don’t leave any space for people to get into them.”

Musgrove is continuing her exploration of textiles and is excited about a journey that is leading her to find better, more sustainable materials. She said, “There’s this blurred line between the commercial textiles and my studio work, which is uncomfortable but good.” 

As she finds her way back to her narrative work, creating new stories through the intersection of her two distinct bodies of work, she mused: “They’re coming together. It’s working itself out.”