She
was educated at Glen Waverley Secondary College. Concentrating more on
maths and science subjects in the early years of High School, Merran
continued her keen interest in painting “after-hours”. Fascinated by
psychology and the function of the human mind, it didn’t take her long to
discover that books on the subject were filled with bizarre photos and the
work of surrealist artists like Dali.Merran
experimented with different media, different subjects, hiding images
within others, using negative space and creating works where nothing is as
it seems at first glance. Regular sales at local art shows paid for the
next painting to be framed.
The school recognized her efforts with “The Award
For Excellence In The Field Of Art” in 1988, 1986, 1985 and 1984. Merran
began to imagine a career in art.
“I used to hid out in the art store-room during
math periods” she says.
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She received a lot of encouragement from her mother who was an
amateur watercolourist.
Her grandmother, Lorna Stockman, painted in oils and her uncle did
silk screen work, so Merran's artistic talents flourished in fertile
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Her father, who
got tired of being the odd man out, on one occasion went off to his shed
and emerged with an arresting work of art which he had painted in
self-defence: blacks and reds thickly slathered on. It took a long time to
dry and was a bit of a talking point among visitors in the front room
where Dad proudly hung it. He retired from his artistic career after the
one picture!
She is still experimental in her
use of media: she often descends upon her husband's shed in search of
interesting bits of resin or metal to use in her collages: he is an
inventor and there is no shortage of material for an imaginative artist to
appropriate.
After completing her HSC in 1988,
Merran went into picture framing. Originally intended as a “summer job”
while she explored her options, it was during this period she did
voluntary work with troubled teens and heroin addicts, a stressful and
depressing occupation.
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"Ministering Spirit"
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"Devil's Gate"
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"The Manipulator"
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Click on the pictures to see
a larger image
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Her pictures took on a dark
and nightmarish quality and many of the figures wore masks.
Eventually she was unable to continue to work with these young
people; the dark side was beginning to affect her imagination and
psyche too intensely.
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Merran remained at the framing
gallery for eleven years, eventually becoming manager. She was encouraged
by the many artists and photographers she met over the years curating and
participating in numerous group exhibitions.
At their suggestion she pursued
her studies in art at night, taking figure drawing classes at Malvern
Artists Society and other venues. Clients from Waverley Arts Society
spoke very highly of their teacher and mentor, Carol Boothman. Merran
started painting under Carol’s watchful eye in 2000 and says: “Now I know
what everyone was raving about; the woman is a marvel!”
In 2000 she started as Manager of the Malvern Artists
Society Gallery. She has also taught the art of collage from home,
demonstrated and conducted one-day workshops at various venues around
Victoria.
Merran
joined the WAS in 1999, serving as President in 2001 and 2002. She has
just been elected President again for 2004. She is also the editor,
publisher and a major contributor to the Society's monthly newsletter, the
WASP.
Between
1996 and the present, Merran has participated in over 40 exhibitions, and
won many awards and prizes for her work, which hangs in private
collections here and overseas.
Her first
solo exhibition was entitled "Courtyard of 1000 doors" and for the
occasion Merran and her band of helpers transformed the Malvern Artists'
Society Gallery by creating a series of doors behind which the pictures
were exhibited.
The
paintings were inspired by the lyrics of "Love takes care", by
Australian band "The Angels" and each line
of the song became the title of a picture. The exhibition attracted much
interest and created some controversy - people who come into the gallery
still say : "Do you remember that exhibition.....?"
"Life is full of coices: a
courtyard of 1000 doors.
Each doorway leads to a change in your perception of reality:
to pass through it is ultimately your personal journey" ... Merran
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"It's a phony situation you
bring on yourself"
a.k.a "Beauty in the Beast" : 1996
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"When I thought that you were
all alone" : 1996
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Two other exhibitions that stand out are ones that
Merran undertook in conjunction with other artists whose work complements
her own:
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Imagination is as
powerful as instinct ...
Vision is as powerful as
Touch
In September 1999
Merran teamed up with photographer friend Konfir Kabo, to produce
a very successful exhibition entitled ' Touch '
for the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
Carol
Boothman opened the exhibition.
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In September 2000 Merran
exhibited with Leonie Williams at Cook's Corner.
Leonie paints in the Mandala
art form, and her work represents her fascination with the realm of
myth, legend and fairytale, a good analogue for Merran's fantasy
world. |
"The Twins" 1999
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Merran's work is very much a product
of imagination, dreams and fantasy. Bold in colour and texture, the images
range from the phantasmagoric to the ethereal. Devils, sharks, nymphs,
mermaids, unicorns, dryads … she takes the pictorial conventions of
realistic portrayal and then manipulates and inverts them to create
marvellous worlds for which there is no earthly analogy.
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"Unity" 2002
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Fantasy art is a very difficult genre to depict
successfully. To mix fantasy and reality in a way that makes the fantasy
plausible and suffuses the reality with enchantment, is no easy task.
Merran's fantasy world combines romantic adventure, innocent eroticism,
and a sense of wonder.
If fantasy is
powerfully realised, it can produce an imprint on the viewer's imagination
deep enough to give it a measure of truth or reality. Merran is amazed at
what people read into her pictures – they seem to serve as a kind of
psychic mirror in which different people see different "truths", usually
bearing no resemblance at all to what Merran thought she was painting:
"Sometimes I listen to them and I think: you are very weird! "
Her work is very much sought-after in various galleries and shops in the
Dandenong Hills.
Whatever her fans may see in her
work, Merran herself doesn't have time to be weird: she is a practical
person with no airs – what you see, is what you get.
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The two
toilets in Melbourne most worth visiting are the Ladies' loo on the
34th floor of the Sheraton, with its spectacular view of
the city, and Merran's loo in Ferntree Gully, with its spectacular
view of her work.
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She doesn't hesitate to take a
door off its hinges in order to paint on it: "I paint all these huge
pictures – it might as well be useful instead of gathering dust in
the garage!"
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Merran and her
husband have been married seven years and are the proud parents of two
lovely little girls. Her father-in-law is closely involved with
Australian hockey and she herself played hockey, but she really sees
herself a runner, although since the advent of the girls she has less time
to participate in running, other than running after them!
