Fleta Monaghan

“light-caress”
by Fleta Monaghan

Fleta grew up on the west coast of Florida, on the beautiful Gulf of Mexico. After traveling around the United States and living in San Francisco, Oregon and Virginia, she settled in Asheville, North Carolina in 1981.

“I have always been attracted to beautiful and historic places populated with interesting and artistically inclined people. After visiting Asheville briefly, I decided this was a perfect place to live and work. I love the thriving arts community, and enjoy working and teaching in a poetically timeworn 100 year old warehouse in the River Arts District of Asheville.

The oldest of seven children, she began painting in oils and pastels at an early age. Her earliest works still in existence are pastel copies of Bottecelli paintings, executed at age twelve.

“I have heard it said that an artist only has to look at the art work they created as a child to see the directions and themes that will resonate in their adult work. That is certainly true with me. I experimented with all kinds of materials as a kid – marbling paper with oil paint, making handmade paper, drawing and painting and creating costumes. I would read about some new technique or see some interesting art, and the next thing you knew I was trying it out. Naturally, most of my experimentation took place outside! In recent years I have been experimenting with oil and wax, oil pastels and painting with heated beeswax. These traditional materials involving beeswax are very old, and reinventing new ways to use materials has always been interesting to me.

I am always seeking an essence of thought and feeling when I combine imagery with materials. There is an unbroken thread that weaves through all my work, no matter what materials I use or which techniques I employ. The Gulf of Mexico strongly influenced my visual, spiritual and philosophical senses as have the Mountains here in North Carolina.”