As a fiber artist and weaver, Megan Benson explores themes related to identity, gender roles, and perfection. Megan’s work blends the traditional structures produced on a four-harness floor loom with unconventional techniques through embellishment and deconstruction. The passage of time, difficult life phases and the perceived permanence/impermanence of life is explored through the labor-intensive construction of a weaving, thread by thread. What appears insurmountable can be overcome one moment at a time and expressed one thread at a time.
Megan is a recipient of the 2018 Indiana Arts Commission’s On-Ramp Fellowship. She was awarded the 2019 Volunteer of the Year Award by Exodus Refugee Immigration for her work leading an art and sewing group for refugee women. Her academic background in Anthropology informs her weaving explorations and support of culturally diverse weavers in and around Indianapolis. Originally from Pennsylvania, Megan lived in Massachusetts, Delaware, Oregon, Utah and Washington before settling in Indiana eight years ago. She weaves on an heirloom Harrisville four-harness loom that originally belonged to her husband’s grandmother.
