ABOUT JAY

My work is a reflection of my interests, experiences, and the places I've lived. I attended school in Colorado to study studio art. but after deciding to go in a different direction my path led to a small rural town in northern VT. It was here I spent my remaining college years studying ecology and outdoor education and leadership at Sterling College. The focus on ecological studies cemented my love for the natural world. I'm fascinated with all levels of nature, the macro, the micro and everything in between. My work includes large and small drawings in traditional processes to giant charcoal drawings of tree bark using a process of Frottage. Nature is the focus of my practice, it is a studio, it is a refuge, it is a place of creativity and exploration.

ARTIST STATEMENT
Jay Merrill is a Western Massachusetts-based artist who works primarily with charcoal and other drawing mediums:
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I engage in the practice of observation. It’s a practice within my art practice. And the intention is to understand the world around me – to know, to recognize, and to relate to place. My art is made primarily outside, in nature, in place. Much of the work is an imprint of the natural world. It’s an indexing of biological patterns. And I’ve observed patterns are repeated in both living and nonliving beings.

The artwork is process driven and the process is what gives the drawing life and authenticity. Elements of the natural world are used in making marks on the page which gives some agency to both living and nonliving worlds.This collaboration with the environment removes any interpretation of patterns. By removing my hand, or giving it a new role in mark making, the drawing process expands from traditional drawing techniques to a number of new methods.The natural world is an endless gallery of tools for making marks on paper. Tree bark, leaves and needles, rocks and soil, it’s all available and abundant.

My art  is primarily driven by a desire to connect to natural spaces. Each piece is drawn on various surfaces, such as tree trunks, on the ground in the shadow of a tree, or in the open field during a rainstorm. The final works, prints of nature’s patterns, are a product of my direct observations. 
There's a big beautiful world out there. Explore it. Render it. Protect it. Love it. 

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