this website has recently been updated 1990-2026…more work coming soon

general artist statement
I am an animist, one who believes the natural world and inanimate objects contain a universal sense of self. I often rely on childhood memories of collecting organic and discarded objects that caught my eye. I gave them undivided attention and paid homage to their existence. I became a myth maker of sorts. In the same respect, applying paint breathes life onto the surface of a painting. I am a studio painter and through the physical act of painting: being present, touching, observing one pass of paint to the next, the resulting work is often layered with references to history, art history, classical literature, philosophy and current events that sum up who I am. I paint with a sense of immediacy by initiating tension within composition and color choices. The next paint layer reacts to the previous layer during multiple sessions, and the work is completed when: chance vs. intension, surrender vs control, revelation vs mistake, color vs color are resolved. Art is my assertion of existence.

Merle is a contemporary American painter based in Rhode Island working at the edge where observation drifts into abstraction. She received her BFA from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, and has been awarded several fellowships in painting and drawing and has participated in international artist residencies. Her work has been represented by galleries in; Providence, RI; Boston, MA; Los Gatos, CA; and Bermuda. She has exhibited widely at universities and cultural institutions, given lectures and has work published. Merle’s paintings are held in collections nationally and internationally, traveling farther than she ever insists they should- quiet emissaries roaming the world.