Megan Hazen is a painter from Renfrew, Ontario and currently based in Burlington. Her current body of work is the Fragmented Memories series, which is made up of acrylic and oil paintings on panel or canvas. Hazen holds an honours BFA from OCAD University. She also took part in the Florence Off-Campus Studies program, having lived and practiced in Italy for eight months. Megan has taken part in a variety of group and solo exhibitions throughout the Ottawa Valley, Toronto and the GTA, and Florence, Italy. She was a finalist in the So You Want to be an Artist national competition, therby having had the opportunity to exhibit in the National Gallery of Canada. Hazen has lent her work as featured artist for the Renfrew Victoria Hospital's annual Tree of Lights Fundraiser, completed murals for the Agricultural Society, Renfrew Hospice, and the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life. Most recently, Megan was a participant in the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair 2019 and 2021 online, as well as helped raise funds for the Joseph Brant Hospital with the A Leaf for Life show.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

My current body of work, the Fragmented Memories series makes use of the collage and fragmentation and its tradition of disassembling a whole image. This is made up with a series of paintings, largely in acrylic with some oil on either wooden panel or canvas. These fractured touchstones of memory are reference to the continuous process of collection, selection, reduction, and recollection of information that becomes a memory. Considering the experiential lenses through which I view the world, these influence often without being aware. I question why certain images or experiences may make a greater impact than others, as we abstract and extract from everything around us. These images are pieces of memories that remind me of a time or a place, be it at home or away. Much of my work includes pieces of landscapes or animals, as they remind me of growing up in rural Ontario. As time goes on, I am influenced by my every day, now with imagery of my life in Toronto entering my work, as well. The experience of painting fuels my passion for life and the creation of new memories in the constant search for inspiration.