Artist Statement

Carving marble sculptures has given my life a deep sense of meaning. When I carve by hand with a mallet and chisel, I feel an intimate connection with the stone. I also feel a stream of energy and emotion that I have no other way of accessing. In composing and developing each work, I follow my instinct and let the forms evolve rather than planning every plane and volume in advance.

My stylistic intent is to integrate both figurative and nonobjective approaches. I also like to combine forms inspired by cave art with modern twentieth century idioms.

The themes are symbolic and sometimes iconic in concept. Over time, the works have fallen into three major categories: 1) Eve and the Serpent as well as other female deities, 2) forms composed of stylized animal sculptures and 3) abstract images largely inspired by architecture.

I seek to express feeling and motion in as timeless and general a way as possible. I look for basic shapes that appear in nature and architecture, then distill them to a spare but meaningful esthetic essence. I want the images to remind the viewer of common shapes we see every day—the arches, angles and curves in both the natural world and our manmade environment. Each sculpture is concise, taut and as suggestive of latent movement as possible.

Education

1975-77 MA Azusa Pacific College, Toluca Lake, CA
1964-70 Studies Pegot Waring, Los Angeles, CA
1960-64 Studies Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA
1958-60 Studies Arnold Mesches, Los Angeles, CA
1951-55 BA University of California, Los Angeles

Bio

Bea Mego has lived and worked in Los Angeles for most of her life. She began her art studies as a painter before developing an interest in sculpture. She took her first class in clay modeling to improve her drawing through direct experience with the third dimension. Her instructor, Pegot Waring, a noted stone sculptor then teaching at Otis Art Institute, encouraged her to develop her talent in this new direction. Mego then went on to take a stone carving class where she developed a strong affinity for the medium.

Mego has exhibited her work in museums and galleries throughout California, including the American Jewish University, Los Angeles; Downey Museum of Art; Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego; and the California State Fair, Sacramento. A solo exhibition of her work was held at the Pauline & Zena Gatov Gallery in Long Beach.

She has created sculptures which were used as awards by various organizations such as Peace Action Committee and The Hague Appeal for Peace, both headquartered in New York City, and Scripps College in Claremont, California.

Mego has worked as an art reviewer, writing a regular weekly column for The California Jewish Voice and contributing articles to Art Calendar and FM & Fine Arts. For the past 16 years, she has also taught a class in stone carving at American Jewish University in Los Angeles.