NOW ON DISPLAY: “Familiar Layers: Encaustic Scenes of St. Louis, Part 1” by Leah Merriman

“The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.”
Maya Angelou

About the show:
“This series of paintings is the first of a planned body of work exploring local scenes and landmarks familiar to many who grow up and live in St. Louis. Starting in South St. Louis and moving North and West, I plan to continue this series of work to encompass the entire St. Louis region.

“Working in this tactile medium, even the irritating and mundane of each day can be made to feel winsome. The persistent mugginess of a summer evening in St. Louis can portray magic if looked at in the correct light. Through these works even humidity is put on display as more than a sticky feeling; but as an unappreciated filter that grabs and throws light and color through the atmosphere.

“These are places we know, but more importantly, they are places that know us. Each scene the viewer looks into pushes back, posing internal questions of their own personal, local histories. Each vantage point depends on who is present on any particular day. Every day is another layer, another person – perhaps another version of the same person – experiencing a place which is familiar, yet every day newly beautiful. The layers fuse together to become a collective and constant living memory.”

About the Artist:
Leah Merriman a St. Louis native and is passionate about her hometown. Six years ago she began exploring techniques that would allow her to “paint deeper” into the canvas and her love for the encaustic medium took shape. She now works primarily in encaustics to create ethereal, layered abstract landscapes on cradled wood. She also creates detailed illustrations of urban scenery and architecture in ink and acrylics as well as charcoal portraiture that she blends with encaustics to create her own, unique style.