We were lucky to catch up with Ally Morgan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ally, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I received my MFA in painting and drawing from Arizona State University in 2014 and immediately started looking for work teaching in higher education. With the experience I gained in graduate school teaching several undergrad courses, I hoped having a few adjunct classes would help me balance my career goals with finding financial security. I always knew I wanted to be a working artist, but I was also concerned with the uncertainty of an artist life. When an opportunity arose for me to teach art full-time in secondary education, in my home state of Maryland, I decided to take it.

I ended up working at the high school for 6 years and while I enjoyed working with my students and other faculty, I always felt like I wasn’t being honest with myself. I missed my studio time and the progress I made during graduate school in my professional art career. I waivered for years about leaving education and pursuing my art full time, but I was afraid to leave full time employment for something that was more uncertain. At that point I had a husband and a toddler, and I had to determine what was the best financial solution for us as a family.

In 2020, when the pandemic caused much of the world to shut down, my father, who had been battling cancer for several years, passed away. He had always supported me and encouraged me, and after his passing I was determined not to let fear or uncertainty hold me back from my dreams. In the summer of 2020, with the full support of my family I left my high school art teacher position and focused on becoming a full-time artist. I built a business around commission work and as my brand became more well known in my local community, I was asked to teach workshops for local artist communities and even take on private students. Eventually, I created a successful combination of private students, teaching with a local art studio and adjunct work to have ample time to work in my studio.

While so much of 2020 was difficult for me, I used the time to reshape my career and artistic path. I’ve found a balance not only in my studio practice but also in my teaching career and home life that I couldn’t have imagined back in 2014.

Ally, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a contemporary realist/ symbolist painter living and working in Rockville, Maryland. I work in a wide variety of drawing and painting mediums ranging from colored pencils to oils to Japanese watercolors. I’ve been painting for several years, exhibiting my work in galleries both locally and nationally. As a body of work, my paintings explore the natural world and humanity’s relationship with it, focusing on the image of the animal as a way of exploring the human condition. Much of my works also deals with femineity and gender roles in the human and natural worlds. Besides my studio practice, I teach with the Yellow Barn Studio in Glen Echo, MD, Frederick Community College in Frederick, MD and I teach privately.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

As an artist, I feel compelled to constantly make work – almost to the point where it feels painful to walk away from the studio. While I hope my paintings resonate with others, they are very personal for me. It took me several years to narrow down who I am as an artist and what my truth is. I have always had an interest in animals and the natural world. When I started to pursue this direction in graduate school, I had a male professor tell me that my work was too “sympathetic” and “feelings” driven, and that painting “animals” would not hold up in the competitive art world. I took the criticism personally, understanding that what he was trying to say was that as a female artist I could have real difficulty in a historically male dominated art world. Since then, I have made it my mission to create art that explores the female perspective, as an artist and maker, and as human and an animal. Specifically, in exploring the concept of the “Animal Other”, I’ve observed the similarities it shares with the female experience. Throughout western history, women have been represented in art, as in life, as “Other”. As the similarities in the depiction of women and animals grow more apparent, I find the shared experience produces an unshakeable bond between the two groups. By exploring and sharing this concept in my art, I hope to start real conversations in the art world about gender, animality and humanity.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

One of the most important resources you have as an artist is your local art community. This was something I wish I took more advantage of earlier in my creative career. Get to know other artists around you. Go to openings and always support other artists in their successes. So much of your creative career is cultivated through contacts. I strongly recommend emerging artists join local artist communities and get to know their peers. You never know where it will lead you!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.allymorganart.com
• Instagram: @allymorganart