M E Fuller Bio/Artist Statement

M E Fuller Artist Statement

M E Fuller paints in the abstract style. Her work is intuitive and depicts movement and sensations experienced through the act of creating art. Sometimes beautiful and soft, sometimes hard in the spirit of climate and social upheaval, each piece tells a story of the artist’s inner (mindscapes) and outer (landscapes) worlds.

Fuller uses acrylic inks, pencils, charcoal, and other mark-making tools for gestural marks that allow her to move into the painting. This follows with applications of acrylic color layers and textural marks that help define the subject and blend elements into a cohesive visual experience.

M E Fuller BIO

M E Fuller is a self-taught practicing author, visual artist, and workshop facilitator living in rural SW Minnesota. After early retirement Fuller restarted her creative career, encouraging others to do the same. At 70, she successfully transitioned from traditional/illustrative art into abstract forms, showing her work in gallery/juried group and solo shows throughout the state. She writes a weekly artist and events column for the local newspaper and in December 2023, created the first fine artist market event in Montevideo after wrangling 17 local artists from the shadows.

She is the SW MN Arts Council board member for Chippewa County and is working with other community leaders to develop a formal arts organization. Fuller is a firm believer that we all do better when we pull together.

Fuller’s solo exhibits include K. K. Berge Gallery, Watermark Art Center, The Smallest Art Gallery, Crossing Arts Alliance, Owatonna Art Center, and Pump House Art Gallery (WI).  She is the featured artist in the summer 2022 edition of Shark Reef (online), Fall 2023 Blue Earth Review, The Scop: Literary and Fine Arts Magazine for King's College, and cover artist for The Passionfruit Review, August 2024.

In 2021 Fuller received an emerging artist support grant from the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council (SMAC) funds. Thank you to the Minnesota state legislature for supporting the arts in our state.

She is the current SMAC board representative for Chippewa County and writes a weekly artist events column for the Montevideo American News. She is also the chief artist wrangler for Montevideo, MN artists, responsible for the first-ever Montevideo Fine Artists Market in December 2023. She facilitates both painting and writing workshops and is available for one-on-one mentoring. Fuller is a self-taught artist and writer. 

Creative Writing:
Mystery, Essay, Flash & Literary Fiction

Literary Fiction
Saving the Ghost - pub. 2019

Cozy Mystery
Filthy Dirty Garden Gloves – 4-Book Series
Blood on the Bridal Wreath, Book 1, pub. 2021
From Hothouse to Heaven, Book 2, pub. 2023

Essay
The Last Roll Call, PHOTOWRITE, October 2018

Flash Fiction
I Don’t Know, 2nd place award, flash fiction, “Tales from the Tall Grass Prairie” writing competition, 2023
The Lake, South 85 Journal blog, November 2018
Abel March, Talking Stick 26, A Minnesota Literary Journal, September 2017
Crazy Dog, Winter 2016, Shark Reef, A Literary Magazine

GRANTS
2025 - Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Individuals grant
2021 – Southwest Minnesota Arts Council – Emerging Artist grant
2021 – Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Individuals
2017 – Artist Project Grant, Five Wings Arts Council with funds from The McKnight Foundation, to complete for publication her first novel, Saving the Ghost
2015 – Artist Project Grant, Five Wings Arts Council with funds from The McKnight Foundation, to complete the first draft of Saving the Ghost

RESIDENCIES & RETREATS
2-day memoir workshop with Kao Kalia Yang, Park Rapids, MN, August 21 -22, 2019
Week-long intensive with Sheila O’Connor, College of Saint Benedict, July 16-20, 2019
Chippewa Valley Writer’s Guild – 5-day residency with Nickolas Butler and B J Hollars, June 2017
Springboard for the Arts Hinge Artist in residence, Fergus Falls, MN, November-December 2017

VOLUNTEER
The University of Minnesota 4-H Young Writers Program
Southwest Minnesota Regional Arts Council Board Representative for Chippewa County

Art Exhibits/Published Art

2025
30th Arts North International, Hopkins Center for the Arts, January 11 - February 22, 2025
Hutchinson Center for the Arts, March 5 - April 18
Bird Island Cultural Center, May 1-31

2024
White Bear Center for the Arts, Northern Lights 50th Annual Member’s Juried Exhibit, February 19-March29
Owatonna Arts Center, June 2-30
Get Off My Porch Art Gallery, June 28-Oct 1
Crossing Arts Alliance, July 3 - August 3
Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibit, Aug. 22 – Sept. 2 / Preview Aug. 20, 7-8:30 p.m.
Watermark Art Center, Juried Member’s Exhibit, September 6 - October 25
Pump House Regional Arts Center, Kader Gallery, November 6 - January 4, 2025

The Scop: Literary and Fine Arts Magazine for King's College (Volume 84)
The Passionfruit Review, August

2023
Watermark Art Center, Lakeview Gallery, solo exhibit
The Smallest Art Gallery, Small Works, solo exhibit
White Bear Center for the Arts, Northern Lights 50th Annual Member’s Juried Exhibit, February 19-March29

Blue Earth Review - Fall 2023/Issue 31

2022
White Bear Center for the Arts,  Northern Lights, juried exhibit
Hutchinson Center for the Arts, regional artists exhibit
Freeport Art Museum, 18th Regional Juried Exhibit
Watermark Art Center, juried exhibit
K. K. Berge Gallery, solo exhibit, Original Forms

2021
Watermark Art Center, Nibiikaang – From the Water juried exhibit
Fergus Falls Center for the Arts, solo exhibit
Kaddatz Galleries,  Hindsight 2020 juried exhibit

2018
The Crossing Arts Alliance, juried exhibit

Juried Art Crawls/Fairs

2023
Excelsior Art on the Lake
Art in Bayfront Park
GSR Fine Arts Festival

2020-2022
Upper Minnesota River Arts Meander

2022
Park Point Juried Art Fair
Art at St. Kate’s
Lakeville Arts Festival