Mary Merkel-Hess
biography |
portfolio | artists listing
b. 1949, Waterloo, Iowa
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Longhouse Foundation, East Hampton, NY
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA
Wustum Museum of Art, Racine, WI
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2006 Contemporary Baskets, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2004 In-Formed By Nature, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
2003 Shared Passion, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
2002 Baskets Now: USA, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
Blurring The Line: Where Vessel And Sculpture Meet, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
2001 The Art of Contemporary Fiber, Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX
Mary Merkel-Hess: Nature's Bounty, Philadelphia International Airport,
Philadelphia, PA
Out of The Floating Waves, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN
The Art of Asian Paper, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
1999 American Basketmaking: Tradition and Innovation, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
1998 Threads: Contemporary American Basketry, Barbican Center, London, England
Craft is a Verb, Mississippi Museum, Jackson, MS
1997 Celebrating American Craft, Kunstindustrie Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
Ritual Vessel, Master works from Longhouse Collections, East Hampton, NY
1994 Ceramic And Fiber: A New Generation, Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI
1993 The Space Within: Contemporary Basketry in the MidWest, Waterloo Museum of Art, Waterloo, IA
Women's Voices, Drake University, Des Moines, IA
New Acquisitions, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Patterns of Growth, Solo Show, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
1991 Basketry From All Directions, Arrowmont School of Arts & Design, Gatlinburg, TN
Basketry Spectrum, Rome Art Center, Rome, NY
Basketry Invitational, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
1989 Somewhere I Have Never Traveled Gladly Beyond, Appalachian Center for the Crafts, Smithville, TN
1988 Avant Garde Approaches to Basketry, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
1986 Contemporary Basketry, Textile Art Center, Chicago, IL
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
1988 Papermaking for Basketry, Lynn Stearns & Shereen La Plantz, Press de la Plantz
1987 The Basketmaker's Art, Rob Pulleyn, Ninepress, Ashville, NC
1999 “Mary Merkel-Hess: Constructing Form”, American Craft, June/July, Vol.58, No.3
1996 “Mary Merkel-Hess: New Expressions of the Natural World”, FiberArts, April
1998 Lifework: Portraits of Iowa Women Artists, Robbie Steinbach, Lifework Arts Foundation
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
I make baskets using a technique that I developed, a combination of three-dimensional collage and paper maché. The vessels are made over molds. Small pieces of paper are applied with glue to the mold and allowed to dry, thus creating a paper form that is removed from its mold and further manipulated. Over the years, I have discovered many variations of this technique. I have used thin and thick papers, varied the shapes, and included paper cord, reed, or fiber in the body of the vessels. I have made interior forms for the baskets and then covered them with a skin of transparent paper.
I make vessels because I am fascinated with form and structure. I look for inspiration in the natural world, and then allow technique to mesh with these visual ideas to create something new. I enjoy all aspects of this process: the appreciation of the world around me that suggest ideas and the search for a method of construction that allows my ideas to take shape.
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Longhouse Foundation, East Hampton, NY
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA
Wustum Museum of Art, Racine, WI
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2006 Contemporary Baskets, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2004 In-Formed By Nature, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
2003 Shared Passion, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
2002 Baskets Now: USA, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
Blurring The Line: Where Vessel And Sculpture Meet, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
2001 The Art of Contemporary Fiber, Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX
Mary Merkel-Hess: Nature's Bounty, Philadelphia International Airport,
Philadelphia, PA
Out of The Floating Waves, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN
The Art of Asian Paper, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, IA
1999 American Basketmaking: Tradition and Innovation, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
1998 Threads: Contemporary American Basketry, Barbican Center, London, England
Craft is a Verb, Mississippi Museum, Jackson, MS
1997 Celebrating American Craft, Kunstindustrie Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
Ritual Vessel, Master works from Longhouse Collections, East Hampton, NY
1994 Ceramic And Fiber: A New Generation, Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, WI
1993 The Space Within: Contemporary Basketry in the MidWest, Waterloo Museum of Art, Waterloo, IA
Women's Voices, Drake University, Des Moines, IA
New Acquisitions, American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Patterns of Growth, Solo Show, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, IN
1991 Basketry From All Directions, Arrowmont School of Arts & Design, Gatlinburg, TN
Basketry Spectrum, Rome Art Center, Rome, NY
Basketry Invitational, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
1989 Somewhere I Have Never Traveled Gladly Beyond, Appalachian Center for the Crafts, Smithville, TN
1988 Avant Garde Approaches to Basketry, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
1986 Contemporary Basketry, Textile Art Center, Chicago, IL
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
1988 Papermaking for Basketry, Lynn Stearns & Shereen La Plantz, Press de la Plantz
1987 The Basketmaker's Art, Rob Pulleyn, Ninepress, Ashville, NC
1999 “Mary Merkel-Hess: Constructing Form”, American Craft, June/July, Vol.58, No.3
1996 “Mary Merkel-Hess: New Expressions of the Natural World”, FiberArts, April
1998 Lifework: Portraits of Iowa Women Artists, Robbie Steinbach, Lifework Arts Foundation
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
I make baskets using a technique that I developed, a combination of three-dimensional collage and paper maché. The vessels are made over molds. Small pieces of paper are applied with glue to the mold and allowed to dry, thus creating a paper form that is removed from its mold and further manipulated. Over the years, I have discovered many variations of this technique. I have used thin and thick papers, varied the shapes, and included paper cord, reed, or fiber in the body of the vessels. I have made interior forms for the baskets and then covered them with a skin of transparent paper.
I make vessels because I am fascinated with form and structure. I look for inspiration in the natural world, and then allow technique to mesh with these visual ideas to create something new. I enjoy all aspects of this process: the appreciation of the world around me that suggest ideas and the search for a method of construction that allows my ideas to take shape.