In the first of Varsity Lifestyle's series of collaborative pieces with Cambridge Creatives, Megan Dalton, a second year English student at Queens', discusses juggling art and English, her dream of becoming Matilda, and artistic involvement at Cambridge. 

Are you working on anything exciting at the moment?

I’m currently working on an Escher-inspired portrait that’s drawing itself and ripping itself up at the same time, which is one of few non-commission based pieces I’ve done since coming to Cambridge. It’s exciting to be producing something purely for the sake of creativity, although motivation is much harder when there’s so much else to do here! Having said that, getting involved with Cam Creatives recently and seeing all the awesome stuff other contributors have produced has really made me want to spend time producing more adventurous art. I’m also hoping to get a few commissions this summer, which usually tend to be photorealistic portraits and landscapes. If anyone reading this is interested you can check out my work and contact me via Megan Dalton Art on Commission.

Art, or English?

When I was little I always wanted to be both Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, and illustrate my own novels (one can dream, and it was at least more realistic than my hopes of actually becoming Matilda). I’ve never really wanted to choose between the two, and although I will sometimes daydream wistfully of joining my friends at art school, I’d be equally jealous of those studying English here if I were there. As it is, I have a nerdy fascination in using literature and literary theory alongside art and art theory in my academic work. I think the way vision and image function linguistically, both as signs and in language, provide a curious insight into both our understanding and presentation of human experience.

Which artist – alive or dead – would you most like to meet? Why?

Picasso. His work is so diverse and manages to be simultaneously so intricate and so bold. The extensive sketches he produced for Guernica, and many of the works he produced around that time, particularly fascinate me. His work just explodes with energy.

How much of a forum is there for art/creativity to be recognised or made part of life at Cambridge?

There’s loads of exciting and creative stuff going on in Cambridge, such as life drawing, Queens’ Arts Festival and Arcsoc events, but the difficulty is that it’s not really centralised, so whilst there are lots of small but wonderful communities, they are often temporarily constructed and it can be difficult to sustain involvement. There’s no artistic equivalent to the ADC, as it were. I do think that this is a gap that the ever-expanding forum of Cam Creatives is starting to fill, and I’m really excited to see how it develops in the next year.

Best place to draw in Cambridge, in your opinion? 

In the margins. 

Take a look at Megan's profile on Cambridge Creatives for her biography and more example of her brilliant work!