Meg Munro - Study & Gallery -A hidden corner of art and life in downtown PV
By Silvia Álvarez - January 2007
If you are used to tour the Art Walk during the art season in Puerto Vallarta don’t miss the opportunity to take a detour to visit the house, workshop and study of the painter Meg Munro; it is a small and brilliant corner in the center of the city and we assure you that you will not regret it.
For those who know the artist acknowledging the quality of her water color art is nothing new. Her diverse flowers, landscapes and various topics have given her a well deserved fame. However this did not make her a stuck-up person. With her slim figure and very pleasant character, Meg Munro wanted to succeed out of her own merits. Not completely excluding the galleries (at the moment she exposes at The  Loft) she decided to set up a small exhibition hall on the ground floor of her house. "I wanted to have a clean space where I can put my pieces of works. I also thought about the painting classes I am teaching and I thought that it would be a good idea", she says while smiling and opening her heart: "I am the oldest daughter and I am used to always achieve what I resolve to do. Even my Dachshund breed dogs are like me: tenacious", Nikky and Carol are there, all the time during the interview corroborating the words of their owner.
When entering her art and life sanctuary those who visit will realize what she has accomplished. Decorated with turquoise tones and brick details, her gallery invites you to get wrapped up in the watercolors, in their majority flowers, that adorn it and which were skillfully painted using old Dutch techniques related to the great masters. In order to create a piece of work of medium size it takes the artist an average of three weeks.
 Now Meg Munro is practically in two different worlds which however are united with each other, and while she is promoted in galleries, she is also able to give her time to her own space, although sometimes this can turn out to be a bit uncomfortable for her because the artist’s house is open not only to admire and to sell her art, but also exposes the privacy of her home which can be toured with few restrictions in order to get to know everything from her workshop on the upper floor, to the living room, the delicious terrace which has been the stage for several of her creations, up to the kitchen. It is then when it is possible to penetrate not only into Meg’s colors, but also into her passions and likes that range from her preference for colorful Mexican articles she uses to decorate discreet but flashy corners to her private collection of mermaids, mythological beings she fully identifies with. "Sometimes it is a little uncomfortable when people come and just look, but when they have seen my work in other parts and then arrive here with the intention of getting to know me, it is different", assures the person that has also become a teacher at the request of the admirers of her flowers and other pieces of work, who have asked her to teach them that technique. Thus her workshop was born where retired people, mainly foreigners, get together with Meg between canvases and colors while she herself shows them how to find their own artistic voice and how to express it through their brushes. The classes are held only on Tuesday and Thursday, whereas the gallery is open on Wednesdays from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and from 4:00 to 6:00 pm. If you make a previous appointment it may be possible that Meg will receive you on a different day.
In order to get to Meg Munro’s study gallery you can take the public bus going downtown. Once you are near the gas station Solorzano located on the corner of Mexico and Honduras  Street, walk 5 blocks uphill along the latter until you arrive at Ecuador Street, where number 1225 will indicate Meg’s home. It is important to take into account that in order to arrive in this way you will have to be in a good physical condition, since her exquisite house can only be reached climbing up one of the small hills surrounding the city, which provides it with an exceptional view. If you prefer, you may also take a taxi; just ask the driver to take you to Ecuador 1225 in the suburb of the 5th of December. The telephone for appointments is 223-1142.
If you are sensitive to art, the study and gallery of Meg Munro is definitively a Hidden Place to visit in the Bay of Banderas!
Silvia Álvarez
Email: silvialvarezb@yahoo.com.mx
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