Artists to Watch | Spencer Meagher - Southwest Art Magazine

In the heart of Americana

Spencer Meagher, Morning in New Harmony, acrylic, 18 x 24.

This story was featured in the October 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art October 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

SPENCER MEAGHER is on a winning streak. In August, the Mount Vernon, IL, artist took home four awards at Steelville Plein Air in the Ozarks. And in June, he garnered an Outstanding Acrylic award in the BoldBrush competition for his studio painting LOVE AMERICAN STYLE, a still life starring Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls posing shoulder to shoulder, the American flag draped behind them. Meagher not only paints in different genres, he’s also proficient in multiple mediums, including oils, acrylics, and watercolors. “Each one brings something different to the table,” he says.

: Spencer Meagher, Airstream Reflections, oil, 8 x 10.

: Spencer Meagher, Love American Style, acrylic, 11 x 14.

: Spencer Meagher, Americana, oil, 11 x 15.

Meagher first became interested in art as a child. In elementary school, he filled the pages of his notebooks with recreations of magazine covers. Soon he progressed to birds, carefully rendering on paper the colorful examples from the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America. In high school, the budding artist considered becoming a wildlife painter, striking up a friendship through the mail with wildlife artist Larry Toschik (1922-2012). “This was in the ’70s. I got a wild hair and decided to write to him,” recalls Meagher. “Six weeks later I received a package back from Larry with critiques of my work and some signed artist’s proofs.”

Over the next six years, the two continued to correspond, with Toschik offering Meagher one pivotal piece of advice during that time: “He said, ‘You’re going to have decide whether you want to be an artist, or something else.’” Meagher chose the path of an artist, painting as often as he could while holding down a full-time job to support his young family. “Somewhere in there I lost my desire for wildlife art, and I started doing landscapes,” he says.

: Spencer Meagher, Morning Shadow, acrylic, 9 x 12.

: Spencer Meagher, Evening on the Farm, acrylic, 11 x 14.

: Spencer Meagher, Black Beauty, acrylic, 8 x 8.

Along the way, Meagher also exchanged his realistic style for a more impressionistic approach, especially through painting en plein air. Today the artist generally leaves his plein-air creations as untouched, standalone pieces, but working outdoors directly benefits his studio work, he adds. “I see so much more in shadows, colors, and subtle value changes,” notes Meagher, who describes his diverse oeuvre as Americana. Whether it’s morning shadows dancing across small-town rooftops or an Airstream gleaming in the sun, he says, “I’m trying to express my feelings now about a scene. The subject is not as important to me—it’s the way the light plays off it.” —Kim Agricola

representation
The Galleries at Heartland Art Club, Kirkwood, MO; Gallery Augusta, Augusta, MO; Outside the Lines Art Gallery, Galena, IL.