The Grass Is Always Greener
Site-specific Installation by Megan Wilson, part of the exhibition Domestic Life  
Sun Valley Center for the Arts
January 16 - March 21, 2009 

Megan Wilson, The Grass Is Always Greener, (2009), installation (paint, textiles -- cut curtains from the sixties and seventies, suede, quilling, pins, blue astroturf)

Courtney Gilbert, Curator:

The 1990s and early years of the 21st century saw an explosion of interest in the American home. Innumerable magazines, television programs and an ever-growing specialty retail industry sprang up to feed our desire to "nest" -- to surround ourselves with beauty and comfort within the intimate yet isolated environment of our homes. The home became not only a refuge, but also a showplace of carefully crafted spaces designed to impress.

What is it about contemporary life that has driven this obsession with our domestic spaces? What is behind the desire to have kitchens equipped like restaurants and bathrooms outfitted like hotel suites? Is it an extension of rampant consumerism, fed by visions of the ideal portrayed in catalogs? Or an indicator of a deeper anxiety that leads us to seek comforts at home rather than venture out into a riskyworld? Perhaps this obsession stems from nostalgia for a time when life centered on the home instead of the pressing demands of jobs, school and extracurricular activities. How have the changing roles of women affected the home?

As the financial boom of the 1990s gives way to today's increasingly bleak economy, so-called shelter magazines and retailers are closing their doors in surprising numbers. Has the home decor era come to a close? Or will the idea of homemaking shift to one that emphasizes sustainability, handicraft and interiors that are homemade in the most literal sense?

Installation:

Sun Valley, Idaho: