Megan Clement
Megan Clement loved a new box of 48 Crayolas and her Prang watercolor box more than anything in elementary school. Often with a Boxer in one hand and a Doberman in the other, she spent childhood surrounded by dogs, and all sorts of other animals.
The third-grader discovered a tiny black book called Drawing Dogs, and delighted in trying to duplicate all the breeds. Miss Mary Ringer taught art and gave weekly drills on prints of old master paintings lined up in the chalk tray. One day Miss Ringer praised Clement’s drawing, and that did it! That little spot inside that loves art was ignited.
Pastels and charcoal were usually nearby, for study breaks, while she finished a B.A. (University of Oklahoma) and M.F.A (University of Houston) in French, lived in France, traveled in Europe and taught French and English. She discovered clay and made busts of her three children, and pursued further post-grad courses in Egyptology and African Art.
A charter volunteer (1980) of the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art (Shawnee, OK), Clement has been there ever since, volunteering, and serving on the Board of Trustees and numerous committees. Her work in the 1990’s (when art was not taught in local schools), creating and implementing art education programs for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders at the museum won awards for Clement and for the MGMoA from Oklahoma Department of Education and from Oklahoma Museums’ Association.
She has volunteered for Allied Arts for many years, served two terms on Oklahoma Arts Council, and was Chairman of the Oklahoma Art Collection in the years of transition to its permanent home in the State Capitol. She received the Marilyn Douglass Award at the Governor’s Arts Awards in 2006.
Just a few years ago, Clement began painting animals, especially dogs, for friends, museum fundraisers, humane society benefits, etc. “It is enormously fun – and therapeutic when life hits those bumps.”
Why dogs?
“I don’t know, but just recently, after more than 50 years, I have come across that tiny black book, and I seem to be channeling Mary Ringer . . . . I suggest we all go forth and encourage a child to make art!”
