Every Sunday, NEPA Creative turns the spotlight on some awesome creatives. This week, we have Morgan “Mahoganyhands” Monaghan!
Mahoganyhands was a nickname given to Morgan by a friend while she was sitting behind a local donut shop. For hours on end, she carved and crafted a chunk of mahogany into what would become a trophy for a music festival she attended with a group of friends. Morgan rolled with it and she is still here today “rolling with it.”
Morgan grew up in the small town of Forty Fort — running around outside, participating in sports, and creating arts & crafts. If it wasn’t a “hands-on” activity, she wasn’t interested.
Throughout the years, Morgan has immersed herself into myriad art forms, including welding and woodworking, in an effort to find where her true passions lie. She hopes to constantly expand her knowledge and perspective in her art as she continues on her creative journey.
Currently, Morgan’s passion and focus is on the technique and application of linoleum for “linocut” printmaking. A design is drawn in reverse onto a piece of linoleum & carved out by hand with gouges, knives, and other tools. It is then rolled with paint and transferred to the surface or material that will display the image. Her current focus follows a theme of buildings and hands: two things in life we see every single day.
To Morgan, the buildings represent a sense of “home” — which most humans desire whether in a structural sense or in finding your people. This concept is very important to her, as for the longest time she struggled to find her sense of home among others — and she’s not alone in feeling this way. Personally, Morgan believes you find your home once you truly start discovering, loving, & accepting yourself.
The hands represent reaching for things in life — reaching to find acceptance, reaching for goals, reaching for passion — the list goes on & on.
If she can make one person feel welcomed, at home, or comforted by her work, then that makes it all worth it.
You can view more of Morgan’s work by visiting www.mahoganyhands.com or by following her on Instagram @mahoganyhands
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