Meet Meagen Svendsen

We were lucky to catch up with Meagen Svendsen recently and have shared our conversation below.

Meagen, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

I don’t consider myself to be very resilient. If I believe the definition in the dictionary, then I am the opposite. I am deeply sensitive, vulnerable, and I have a hard time with sudden change. At the same time, I have always had a very high tolerance for risk, a deep passion for learning and a love of adventure, so I have had to learn how to adapt. But it never comes easy.
I have had the privilege of living in several foreign countries, and in each move, I had to learn a new foreign language, adjust to new environments, new cultures, and the feeling of being other and alone. This has given me a capacity for change I might not otherwise have. It has taught me how to be kind and generous with myself (mostly).
I am grateful I have had such rich experiences in my life. They give me a well of courage to draw from when I am afraid; and allow me to be patient with myself when I am struggling. At my most challenging moments in life, I remember the time I introduced myself to a crowd of Japanese politicians and administrators in the City Hall in Toda, Japan, where I had arrived only minutes prior, speaking words I did not understand but had just memorized on the bus ride in. They all clapped at the end. I had no idea why.
I guess the truth is that I don’t want to be resilient. I want to feel the depths of everything there is to feel. Even when those feeling are uncomfortable. The beauty so often hides inside the struggle.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am a ceramic sculptor and installation artist. My work is inspired by nature and the lessons that it offers our humanity. My work is currently on display at Walker Fine Art in Denver, Colorado. This body of work has been especially important to me as it represents my personal journey as I reflected on the practice of art as a source for healing. At the same time, I was contemplating the historical moment we would be in when the show went up. I never could have predicted the sudden optimism I feel about the future of our nation. Yet, somehow the work reflects this moment.
I will be giving an artist talk and participating in an artists’ panel on the day of the show’s closing at 12:00 September 7th at www.walkerfineart.com.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I draw most heavily on my experiences in nature and living in foreign countries; my graduate degree in Humanities; and being a mother.
My advice would be to first travel as much as possible to expand your mind; study something that deeply inspires you; and then learn what it means to love others more than you love yourself.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

When I feel overwhelmed I get out in nature. I let my mind meander until I feel more calm, and then I try to take in as much sensory information as I can; the colors, textures, smells and sounds. I find metaphors all around me. There are lessons in almost everything I see: in trees that have been split in half by lightning but still manage to reach up toward the light; mushrooms that grow overnight on the cuts of felled trees; spider webs that glisten with dewdrops in the morning. I am especially soothed by birds. Their nests, Their songs. Their dedication to their young.
My advice? Stop thinking. Go outside.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://meagensvendsen.com
• Instagram: meagensvendsen
• Facebook: Meagen Svendsen

Image Credits

Wes Magyar
John Bonath
Sliding Door