Gloria King Merritt
This weeks Throwback Thursday highlighted artist is Gloria King Merritt. This interview was originally posted on May 29, 2014. Gloria was in our last exhibition New Media Art at University Place.
Although digital media is your primary medium now, what was your first medium you fell in love with? Has this influenced your techniques? My first medium was graphite pencil on hot press watercolor paper. Working exclusively in black and white, my goal was to perfect the study of luminosity that best delivers the perception of depth and motion sometimes obscured by color. Black, white and shades of gray affect the more ancient and elemental parts of the brain. I then took the durable, archival quality paper and embedded the work in water-clear casting resin, bending and shaping the piece into a dimensional work that was then hung on a wall.
I have only recently presented a grant proposal for a major 3 dimensional piece using resin and semi-transparent layered images to artistically describe what processes are used in creating a digital painting. This piece draws upon resin techniques and media that I learned very early in my career, combined with my current techniques and medium with digital fine art. This piece sculpturally expresses a digital painting in 3 dimensions and demonstrates the method used to create it.
What is your creative routine? How has your practice changed over time? I have found that by nature, artists don’t tend to have routines. Or, perhaps a better way to put it is that artists’ routines are complex, with random elements. Similar to weather, prediction is approximate in dynamical systems.
Talk a bit about your teachers and education – did they influence the work/ interest of subject matter? My first teacher was my mother who taught jewelry design and metal at the Rhode Island School of Design. My second teacher, a graduate of RISD and well-known painter, taught me drawing, painting, and resin casting. My third teacher, a Yale educated color theorist and painter, taught me color, in theory and application, from small pieces to large dimensional installations. My fourth teacher gave me the opportunity to translate my art experience in a commercial setting, beginning as a staff Art Director at a large advertising agency, where I graduated to being the head of the art department. My next learning experience was as Art Director at a television station (affiliate of CBS network), where I learned digital video production. I taught myself how to work with computers. In 1982 I bought one of the earliest models and was told, “Just plug it in. You’ll figure it out.” Since then, I have explored virtually every software nook and cranny, and embrace technology as the medium of this age.
At each stage, I was totally immersed in each medium. I have drawn experience, philosophy and technical ability from each teacher, and I expect there is more come.
What work do you find most enjoyable to create? I really like digital art. I like the way it looks, the way it is created, and the ever-changing complexity of the method and medium.
How do you know when you have achieved success in a piece? Some puzzles are never solved because the underlying concept either cannot be expressed in the chosen medium or the concept simply leads to a dead end that becomes obvious. Some pieces have taken years to complete. In this case, the unfinished piece is not a dead end, but clearly has a missing element. I have had to wait to understand the next step that only time or serendipity can provide. Some pieces are born spontaneously and complete in my mind, and only await my hand to materialize their existence.
See More Gloria!
Website: www.merrittcontemporaryart.com