Morgan Richardson is an art student at the University of Southern Maine on track to graduate in 2022. Her major is Art with a concentration of digital art and photography. She is originally from Oxford, Maine, but she is currently living in Bethel, Maine.
Richardson has been making art for as long as she can remember. From a young age, she has been filling up notebooks with drawings and taking photos on her mother’s camera.
Richardson describes her own art as “a little morbid.” When asked what inspires her, Richardson explained that “creepy stuff like death” is the major theme that recurs in her work. Some of her work is also inspired by Van Gough and Francis Bacon. One of Richardson’s goals within her work is to make people think further into themselves and explore their darker side.
When it comes to Richardson’s photography, she likes to focus on the small details. She would rather capture the small things that people don’t always notice. Her most recent series was shot on Main St in Norway, Maine. The series featured small things that typically go unnoticed within the small town of Norway. Another goal of Richardson’s is to make people notice something that they normally wouldn’t in a place that is familiar to them. She also enjoys photographing weddings.
Like the majority of students this semester, all of Richardson’s classes are online. She finds pros and cons in the online format as an art student. She enjoys being able to work in her own studio, but struggles doing ceramics from home. Because she is a hands on learner, Richardson finds it tough to keep track of her work on the computer.
Richardson is currently working on editing photos from a wedding this past weekend. She also is working on an upcoming ceramics project from her home studio, where she is making a cast of her own head. She is projected to be finished with the bust sometime in the next two weeks.
Richardson’s favorite art class to date is ceramics, which surprised her. She enjoys the hands-on approach of the course which she thinks is much different than looking at a computer screen in a dark room.
Some of Richardson’s favorites from her own work include a wood block cut that she named “Blood, Sweat and Tears”. It depicts two hands, a heart and an eye that was first carved onto wood and then inked onto crystal paper. This is Richardson’s most labor intensive piece. This is one of her favorite pieces simply because of how well it came out.
Her favorite photo she has taken is a picture from Main Street in Norway. The photo is of a street sign in the middle of the road and behind the sign is an old building. She likes this piece because it shows the small detail of a place she goes nearly everyday, and it holds a different meaning for everyone who sees it.
The freedom of art inspired Richardson to become an artist. “I loved that I could do literally whatever and just got to make stuff,” says Richardson.