Living with Colour: Morgan Connoley

Oozing colour and happiness, Morgan Connoley’s vibrant works are the perfect pieces to adorn your bare walls whilst effortlessly putting a smile on your face. Featuring wolves, typography, pineapples and flamingos, there’s a quirky artwork to suit the plainest or most eccentric of rooms.
Unsurprisingly people love her work, as her pieces have been featured in such glossy magazines as Real Living, Shop, Fashion Journal and Sunday Style magazine. The young artist has also had work displayed in Westfield’s fashion festival, the ANIMALIA exhibition at Courthouse ARTS and at BOOM Gallery.
“I have been blessed with opportunities over the past two years, but I have also worked really hard to make these opportunities come to fruition,” Morgan says.
While Morgan has her own art down pat, she gives what little spare time she has to help out other artists in a small collective called the Geelong Illustrators.
“We aim to inspire each other to high standards of creativity with zero pretentiousness,” she says. “The idea came with the realisation that Geelong had a strong group of amazing illustrative artists whose talent remained untapped.”
It’s a wonder she can put out the high quality work she does when she also works full time as a graphic designer and has just finished building her new home in Ocean Grove.
“My life is super busy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am bored very easily and I thrive on being busy,” she says.
Life wouldn’t be so easy if she didn’t keep the perfect balance: Morgan keeps her diet in check with a weekly meal plan, exercises regularly and goes to bed at 9.30 p.m. (she admits to being a bit of a nanna) to ensure she gets a healthy amount of sleep. However, one of the biggest factors that ensures balance in her life is the support she receives from family and friends.
“I have an amazing network of family and friends who are so incredibly supportive and helpful – especially when things get really hectic,” Morgan says.
While her family may think she works a bit too hard, they couldn’t be prouder of what she has achieved.
“They come along to every exhibition and I definitely could not have been as successful without their love and continued support,” she says.
They have been lucky enough to witness Morgan start selling her artwork at the tender age of 16, to see it develop as an added income as an adult. While Morgan has managed to easily sell her pieces she would never want to rely on it as her sole income. “I don’t think I could ever rely on my art as income. I think that would interfere with the organic process of my creativity,” she says.
It seems that every aspect of Morgan’s life is laced with creativity, but that’s not her only interest in life. “I have always been creative, but I am also really interested in health and nutrition. My sister is an ICU nurse at the Alfred – we’re like chalk and cheese!” she says.
In the meantime, Morgan’s creativity is in perfect condition and she is currently in the process of working on a series of screen prints. Constantly challenging her artistic ability, she’s also just released a series of typography pieces, which is something she’d never really done before.
“I like to keep up with trends and I like to push myself with different mediums to develop my style,” she says.
To see Morgan pushing the boundaries of her artistic ability, visit her facebook (facebook.com/morganconnoleyillustrator) or brighten up your walls with one of her artworks from colourandskulls.com.au.
Written by Amanda Sherring