Macon Magazine

112 maconmagazine.com | April/May 2025 M e g H o g a n C a m p b e l l INTERVIEW BY AMÉLIE HORACE up but one of my professors did not sign my recommendation form until way too late. I went to UGA and I said, "Well, I'll study art because I love art as much." And then when I've been there and already gotten two jobs. and found a place to live, and all that stuff you have to go through when you go to a new place. My mother called and said, "Well, you got your scholarship." And I said: "It's too late." You know, how many people's lives ended up how they think they will? What kind of sculpture work do you do? You know, you have to make cups and bowls and plates to make any money in a smaller town like Macon. But as I get older, I don't care whether I make any money or not! So I make what I want to. I've kind of always done that. You know, if you're an artist, you can't be too much swayed by what's going on around you. It just comes from your head and most of my work comes from my life. I did a whole lot about my grandchildren. What do you enjoy creating? I stay in the woods as much as I can. I went with my dad to the woods [growing up], he hunted and I went with him. A lot of my work is connected with the woods and what I see there when I walk. I did some sculptures that are old pine that is so eaten up, so there's very little left to it. I just put the wood's images on the surfaces of my work. I make big containers. I still make a few cups, and I make big bowls now if I make a bowl. They're all pretty rustic-looking. I don't like perfection. If something's perfect, it's boring to me. If there's something that's a little bit wrong with it, I'll leave A r t i s t s p o t l i g h t M eg Hogan Campbell has been a Macon-based ceramicist for over 30 years. A Macon native, she attended Wesleyan College and the University of Georgia. With degrees in art and English, Hogan has educated and created art for students. Her artist statement shows a commitment to passion over practicality when it comes to her sculptures: "Making functional pots has always been a good source of income, but my first love is sculpture. Somehow the two have entwined and my pots have quirky sculptural elements. I think this is called my style." Her newest pieces are at the 25th anniversary of Fired Works at Macon Arts Alliance, beginning on April 25. What was the catalyst for taking up ceramics? Well, I've been doing this since the '70s. I had gone to Italy, on a study abroad program to Cortona. I went to UGA, and I was beginning to study ceramics there. I had wanted to be a painter… because I was working my way through school, I couldn't pre-register, so I had to take whatever was offered. By the time I started the program, the only thing I could get into was ceramics. It was a fairly new thing. You know, they only had two professors there. I just fell in love with the teachers and with all the different things you could do with clay. I wasn't really interested in making cups and plates and bowls. I was more interested in sculpture. And then we ended up moving back to Macon, my husband and I. I wanted to be a writer, and I had signed "A lot of my work is conne cte d with the wo o ds and what I se e there when I walk."

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