Little girls often look up to their fathers and the things they are good at for inspiration in life’s ambitions. Morgan Wagner definitely makes her dad and the citizens of North Dakota proud with her beautiful artwork featured all over the state. When she was little, Morgan would watch her father, Trace McCune, draw and attempt to imitate him. As the years progressed, she began to be recognized for her life like portrayals and realistic drawings and paintings so her parents encouraged her to follow her dreams and go off to college for art. Whilst gaining an education in art, Morgan discovered her enjoyment of sculpting and conceptual and contemporary art and her skills in those areas grew almost exponentially.
After college, Morgan began teaching art classes to elementary school students on field trips in a museum in San Diego. From there she entered the corporate art world of graphic design. In this fast-paced environment she learned the painstaking precision and structure the corporate level art world demands.
With all these skills, Morgan brought her art to the Bakken where she is currently working on several installations. Up at the high school, Morgan is decorating the student’s hallways with gigantic colorful murals depicting the basic courses all students learn; English, Science and Math. She has also decorated concrete culverts, barriers, four murals at Tobacco Gardens and a gorgeous sign at an entrance to Lake Sakakawea.
Morgan has been making smaller works of art this last year to punctuate her larger pieces.These smaller pieces will be displayed in the new Long X Arts Gallery in Watford City. After that stay, the collection will be traveling for the next eighteen months on a statewide tour display. For those art lovers here in Williston, The James Memorial Library will be featuring Morgan’s collection July 31st through September 1st.
The talent does not stop there, however. Morgan has also illustrated a number of children's books, one of which is currently being featured at our own Books on Broadway. “A folktale about a grizzly lumberjack who lives in solitude, but helps his neighbors in a time of need. It's like Paul Bunyan meets the Grinch. Originally written as a song by the author's fiddle rock band, Lexington Field.” The illustrations in this perfectly reflect the ideals of the story and it’s a wonderful book for kids of all ages and interests. We are truly blessed to have a talented figure like Morgan Wagner in our midst and let’s all watch to see what creative and beautiful things she pulls out of her brain next.
