When people think of the midcentury modern style, they likely envision images of architecture and household decor. But that period also includes art. Margi Sweeton is working to capture some of the nostalgia from that era in her latest paintings, as she explained to Torin Andersen for this month’s "ArtWorks."
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
"Right now, I am working on an exterior; I'm working on the chimney area. As you can hear, I'm using a paint pen ... and I'm filling in an area of the chimney, which is a couple of shades of gray. We've got some bricks in the chimney [here], of course, and I'm just filling in all the mortar areas right now."
This is a work in progress of a midcentury modern style home — an era known for its future-centric leanings. Previously, Margi Sweeton had been doing patient, complex and highly detailed work from a much older era.
"I was doing Celtic work for quite a number of years, and the intricacy and everything of it was very meditative," she says. "And just a year or so ago, I was thinking I wanted to do something simpler, and just have some fun with it."
These works translate as fun: Bright colors, off angles and plenty of movement decorate the works on boards that are not much larger than a piece of paper.
"So, I started doing a few midcentury pieces. I started throwing Atomic Age stuff in there, like 'the world of tomorrow' with rockets and flying saucers and things I've kind of crossed over because I liked the black cats in the Atomic Age, too. You know, just the real simple like 'Felix the Cat' kind of thing."
There are consistent motifs on the pieces but nothing repeating. Interiors have record players and quirky furniture and exteriors have rockets and fantasy skylines.
"I have a little space piece here that it's called 'The Galaxy Diner.' There is a little diner [here] in space with lots of stars around it, a couple of planets, and there's a couple of spaceships, one's parked next to it and one's coming in for landing."
Sweeton prefers to find herself "in the moment."
"Most of the time I don't know what I'm going to do next. [Laughs] I usually don't have the end image in mind when I'm when I'm doing this."
