Shirley-Ross transitions from Texas to NY Mills

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

As fall started on Labor Day, so did the new Artistic Director at the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, Megan Shirley-Ross. Originally from Fargo, N.D., she and her family recently made the move from Lubbock, Texas to join the Cultural Center as their newest staff member.

“It’s a bit of a whirlwind, but it’s been good,” said Shirley-Ross. “I’ve already hung a show in the gallery, I’ve attended a few events, been able to spend time with most of the employees here and have been slowly having lunches or meetings with board members, things like that.”

Shirley-Ross started part-time in her position on August 18 and officially moved to her full-time position on Monday, Sept. 1. She is joined by her husband, Bryan, and her son, Willem, who now make their home in a 100 plus year old farmhouse near Butler.

The nearly 1,300 mile migration came after Shirley-Ross and her husband had been considering a move, but knew that it would have to be the right situation to do so. When the artistic director’s position became available, she applied. Before long, she had interviewed and been offered the job, making the decision to move at the forefront of their lives.

“We were considering a move that would give us a better work-life balance, a little bit slower pace,” said Shirley-Ross. “We both owned our own businesses in Texas and that’s a 24/7 thing, so really no balance. The center’s been on my radar since about the early 2000s. When I was younger I very much wanted to apply for the residency, but was intimidated at the prospect of doing that, so I never did.

“I sort of stumbled upon a posting for this job and we knew to leave Texas and also to close our businesses and relocated, it would have to be the right job,” she continued. “This seemed like it would be something that would allow me personally to continue to grow while still being able to utilize strengths that I had built up in my time with my business and the community connections that I had made in Lubbock.”

Shirley-Ross’ art background had an early start with a Fine Arts degree from Minnesota State University—Moorhead, where she graduated from in 2008. Her emphasis in painting is one of many of her own artistic interests, which eventually led her to starting an instructional art studio in Texas, a business she ran for nine years.

“I taught classes just about everything except ceramics and graphic design,” she said. “Those were really my only two things that I am not familiar with. I personally have a passion for abstract painting, fibre arts, mixed media, papier-mâché, sculpture. I enjoy teaching just about anything, so when I was teaching I would start at age two all the way up through adults doing camps, classes, workshops, adult nights, birthday parties, everything.”

Shirley-Ross has a philosophy to make art accessible for youth, especially younger children, so that they are able to develop a basis for art early on in their lives. Her son, for example, is elementary aged and was active in the Lego League back in Lubbock and has already signed up for the Lego League in NY Mills. She finds that finding a creative outlet for youth is an important part of sparking a lifelong love of art.

“Once you build those skills, art is something that you can pick up and put down over the course of a lifetime, regardless of your position, your finances, it’s something that is always available if you know how to tap into it,” she said. “I’m very much looking forward to sharing that with young people, making art accessible.”

Another part of the job Shirley-Ross is looking forward to is getting to know the community and working with the many artists that take up periodical residence through the Cultural Center’s residency program.

“I’m looking forward to connecting with the community at large,” she said. “I’m excited about meeting all of the residents and visiting artists, I think it’s pretty amazing that people come from all over the world to create here. I think that’s just amazing. The amount of connection that artists have and being able to tap into that network and community is really fascinating.

“Artists know other artists and are often unafraid to talk to people who are maybe outside of the mainstream,” she continued. “We also spend our time within all kinds of other worlds—financial worlds, business worlds—all kinds of things. I find that fascinating as well, just the power art has to connect people on so many levels.”

Fascination for the art world extends to the Cultural Center for Shirley-Ross. She said that she has known about the Cultural Center for the better part of two decades and has followed their events and news for quite some time now.

“I remember my first time here at the center and it was like an oasis,” she said. “I think my grandmother brought me here and I was so pleasantly surprised that something like this could be offered here and that they have people coming from all over the world. I think what draws me to this center specifically is that they’ve been doing this successfully for a long time in a way that I think people outside of the area might find surprising.

“I love expression and I love that art has the ability to assist with all kinds of things on a personal level,” she continued. “Confidence, decision making, ambiguity, flexibility, all of the 21st century skills. The process of art making and then the process of sharing art can teach those things as well.”

As inspiration and people’s experiences make up a lot of their expression through art, Shirley-Ross has reconnected with some of her roots in the midwest and is looking forward to sharing her origins with her family. Having left her hometown of Fargo, N.D. in 2013, she moved to Georgia, where she met her now-husband, Bryan, who had already had a plan in mind to return to his hometown of Lubbock, Texas.

“So we moved to Lubbock at the very end of 2013,” she said. “We joke about taking turns, I spent over a decade in Texas, so now it’s time for them to spend at least a decade in Minnesota. I still have a lot of people I know here and connections and family and my family history is rooted in this region, so this is a way to share that with my immediate family.”

While she settles in to her new job at the Cultural Center, her husband, Bryan, works on renovating their old farmhouse and her son finds his new groove at the NY Mills school. With dogs, cats, and birds galore, the family is looking forward to enjoying both fall and winter, which greatly differ from their home in Texas.

“I’m very excited to be here, enjoying the cool weather. I’m looking forward to setting up my home studio and being able to spend time in it. I also foresee a lot of time outside in the garden.” said Shirley-Ross, “I’m looking forward to snow, I’m a little wary, I’ve been gone a long time, but I’m looking forward to it.”