Rising Stars: Meet Megan Lush of Thornton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Megan Lush.

Hi Megan, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up as an artist, able to draw, paint, sculpt, anything creative using my hands and imagination. My junior year of high school, I joined the theatre department as a set painter. I found my path! The camaraderie of collaborating with fellow artists and the exhilaration of sitting back and watching my art envelope the stage overwhelmed me with inspiration and excitement. Transitioning to the local junior college, i thought i wanted to be a set designer, but then the universe provided an opportunity for me to do props for an upcoming show. I fell completely in LOVE. I was immediately made a resident designer and ran the props department while working in the scene shop for 5 years.

After graduation I started working. I was a props artisan for theaters all over the San Francisco Bay Area. Developed a reputation for creative prop fabrication. After a few years I joined the local stagehand union and transitioned to commercials, small films, and trade shows. Things were going really well…then everything changed. March 14th, 2020, I was on set building a show for the Discovery Channel when the world shut down and we were all told to go home indefinitely.

In the 15 years i have been working as a production artist i have started over in my career 4 times: my transition from school to working theaters in the Bay Area; giving up theatre to start working as right hand woman with a production designer in film and commercials; then embarking on my own building custom exhibits for trade shows, styling photoshoots, and art directing corporate spots, and NOW! I was brought to Colorado to run the build for Urban Putt, an indoor mini golf course with a full restaurant and bar. After 3 years, when the project ended, I decided to stay. I moved my life out here and have been on the hunt for new career inspiration in the Denver area. I am lucky to have met some amazing creative people through Local 7 (stagehand union), Immersive Denver, and join the design team of DIRT for the immersive theatrical experience “Midnight’s Dream” opening spring of 2026.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The struggle for me has always been when i start over. It’s hard, not knowing anyone, to know where to start, who to talk to. I’m a very social person that is passionate about what she does and thoroughly enjoys collaborating. But the constant struggle is funding. Most, if not all, the projects that i am most excited about are, by definition, passion projects; the lower paid gigs that pay, more than enough, in creative compensation, but lack the funding. And space. I have met so many amazing people that inspire me. We talk for hours, and following through our overpowering ambitions halt because of money and location. We are all lacking a area to create, to perform, display, and to share what we want to build together.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I call myself a creative fabricator. Starting out as a props artist, it was my job to collect skills; to know how to do just about everything…and i LOVE it. But if i had to pick a special skill it would be out of the box thinking, seeing things for their potential, and creative problem solving. People would bring me projects that they didn’t know how to do: physically, financially, aesthetically. I love a challenge and i LOVE to inspire greatness in other artists.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Talk to people who are doing exactly what you want to do and find any way to be a part of it. Never be afraid to start from the beginning and prove your worth. Also, NEVER assume or act like you are better than anyone. We need every part of the machine to make it work, show respect to all. Never stop learning new ways of doing things: techniques, materials, ways to collaborate with other specialties.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Lushousart
• Facebook: Megan Lush