About Catherine

I have created my own visual language to express a personal mythology. As in primitive cultures, where people made art to help them understand life, death and the events of their lives, my work has become increasingly narrative, telling stories using pictures, form, line and color. I draw upon the imagery of different mythological traditions to convey inner truth: the tree of Life in the Ancient Kabalah, Cuban Santeria, Hawaiian Legends, a series of classical torsos on columns to express issues of contemporary duality and the Green Man, who represents our oneness with the earth and the animating spirit that lives in nature, As the viewer engages with the work of art, he sees the reflection of his own story, through the universal language of art.

My characters live in alternate archetypal world. They are nude to convey a sense of timelessness and to celebrate the sensuous beauty of the human body. I always work in color, a rich saturated tropical palette that evokes my travels to Cuba and the many years I lived on the Big Island of Hawaii. The prominence of the human figure in my work results from the many years when I was a dancer and the body was the artistic instrument to express emotion and ideas. The artist's model, each one unique in body and spirit, is my inspiration, my muse. I prefer to work quickly and intuitively from the model, hoping to catch something eternal in the fleeting moment. Later a landscape or sense of place emerges, and the story begins to tell itself. These landscapes communicate a feeling of nostalgia for Arcadia, for Paradise Lost. During these troubled times of global conflict, my characters have become separated from their Garden of Eden, now seen through Windows or Portals.

My current work celebrates physical passion, the joys and sweetness of sight and touch, juxtaposing the bodies of the lovers with elements from the natural world. These are landscapes of the human heart that express the magic and mystery of the sexual experience.

Catherine Merrill's work explores the human figure and has been shown in over 150 national and international exhibitions. She has been published in Ceramics Art & Perception, the Studio Potter, New Ceramics, Contemporary American Pottery, the NCECA Journal, CLAY TIMES and Terracotta Magazine. Merrill has presented numerous workshops and lectures at colleges and art centers in the US, Canada, Argentina and Cuba. She has been awarded the Jose Maria Heredia Medal of Honor for her contribution to Cuban culture, grants from the Laila Art Fund, the Puffin Foundation and the North-West Ceramics Foundation as well as residencies in Hawaii, Cuba, Argentina and Canada. She was a presenter at the 2003 NCECA Conference. Merrill received her BFA in Ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute under Ken Ferguson.

For more information, see Catherine's Exhibit Resume and Articles. You can also download Catherine's Resume in a PDF Format