Crawling from the Depths

HOW MHCC ARTIST OVERCOMES HER DEMONS

While steadily powering through the arts program in my second year here at MHCC, one particular artist has caught my eye. While seeming to be a bit timid when you first meet her, seeing her art shouts prominently of Megan Albertine’s journey through life.

Pursuing art has been intertwined with Megan ever since she could collect memories. She became entranced by the freeing sensation art brought with how many ways you could tackle it, and grew a deep love for realism and classical styles as she grew older and gained more skills.

Art became Megan’s secret bunker she could hide in and get lost in when life grew arduous at times. She recalls bearing through deep social anxiety while she attended high school, and had to constantly fight insecurities and inner thoughts that constantly demanded her to be perfect at everything, or whether she’d be accepted by others in life. She battled with the struggles of anorexia.

These thoughts would eventually become too much and would leak into her safe space, toying with her artwork and questioning the skills she worked so hard for.

Megan heartily pushed her way through all these demons somehow and swiftly got accepted at a tattoo school here in the Portland metro area. She poured her life into tattooing and picked up all the skills and techniques necessary to become a stellar, licensed tattoo artist.

She loved the experience of bringing people’s life experiences and personality alive through ink and needle, and excelled in the style of neo-traditionalism.

But those insecurities that began in high school never ceased gnawing in her mind. Megan’s fears of perfectionism would torment every tattoo she tried to build onto her clients, and it all got too much for her. After so much work and time spent on this passion she deeply loved, she knew the best option was to step away from her career as an artist.

Megan spent a long time in a void, with everything that had built up finally reaching a chaotic rush that swirled around her. She felt hopeless in life and became blind to any future aspirations and goals for her life. She just couldn’t take it anymore.

Ultimately she had to take the reins back on her life and leap out of the hole where the tortures played in her mind. She began to seek guidance and support from others who had been through similar situations and could help her find a semblance of peace.

With such guidance underway, Megan began to start back at square one with her art career here at MHCC this school year. This academic year has been a life-changer for her.

She tried new art mediums, such as sculpting, along with getting back into her traditional background of pastels, acrylics, and colored pencil work. She began to unwind her mind and slowly appreciate the flaws and imperfections in her work. She now accepts who she is, and wards off any thoughts that compare her skills to others or cast doubt on her.

While still overcoming her struggles, Megan uses themes of body acceptance, unfiltered beauty, and social anxiety in her work while finding a hunger to experiment and try new things.

Megan has shown great gratitude for the support that her peers and professors have given to her here at MHCC. This year has taught her a lot about herself and has made her a stronger person because of it. She’s rekindled that deep passion and love for creativity, and with a clearer mind, now sees the bright variety of opportunities on her horizon.

If you would like to see some of Megan’s fabulous works of art in person, along with countless more from other artists, please check out the student art show at the Visual Arts Gallery (open 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday) that lasts through May 29!

Cortlan Souders