Merryll Saylan Demonstrates May 2005

Merryll Saylan lives and maintains a studio in San Rafael, California. Educated with a BA in Design from UCLA and an MA in Art from California State University Northridge, her work has been exhibited in many museums and galleries, including the Renwick Gallery, the American Craft Museum and the Yale University Art Gallery. Her pieces have been included in numerous shows such as Turning Wood into Art at The Mint Museum, Turned Wood Now at Arizona State University Museum, and Objects for Use at the American Craft Museum. A leader in the use of color and texture on wood and a valued authority in woodturning method, Saylan’s writings on art, techniques, and the woodturning field have been published in books and magazines.

Saylan's influence in the wood and craft communities is also felt through her teaching practice and her involvement in numerous arts organizations, serving on the boards of both The Wood Turning Center and the American Association of Woodturners and as a Master Member in the Baulines Guild. Saylan participated in Artist-in-Residence programs in the United States and England including Grizedale Sculpture Park, Cumbria, England; International Turning Exchange sponsored by The Wood Turning Center; and Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Colorado. She recently was a Visiting Artist and taught at CCA in San Francisco. In 2004, the US Department of State's ART in Embassies Program, sent her to Fiji to hold a series of public lectures and workshops where her work is on display at the US Embassy.

"Form, contrast, pattern, texture and color are primary themes in my work. Bowls and platters serve as my canvas on which to investigate and explore surface manipulation and visual images. The nature of wood - with its inherent differences in color, grain, texture and density - offers the ground for experimentation with pigments and texture. The recent multiples and installations allow for more complex studies by the juxtaposition of one piece to another. Environment has always affected my work and living next to a salt marsh with its movement and patterns from tidal action is reflected on my surfaces. I have been influenced and attracted to the work and themes of artists such as Morandi, Wayne Thiebaud, Agnes Martin, and Hans Coper."

Selected Exhibitions

2003

New Visions in Wood. Gallerymateria, Scottsdale, AZ
Nature of Craft. Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Masters of Wood. Finer Things Gallery, Nashville, TN

2002

Objects for Use. American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Turned Wood. Snyderman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Wood Turning In North America since 1930. Renwick Galley, Washington, DC

2001

Challenge VI: Roots - Contemporary Turned Objects. Berman Museum of Art, Collegeville, PA
Merryll Saylan. Gallerymateria, Scottsdale, AZ
Wood Turning in North America since 1930. Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
Stools. Tercera Gallery, Palo Alto, CA

2000

Not Boxed In. Tercera Gallery, Palo Alto, CA
Alchemy, in Wood. Sybaris Gallery, Royal Oak, MI
The Fine Art of Wood. Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI
Turning Wood into Art. Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC

1990's

Turned Out: Working in Wood. Sybaris Gallery, Royal Oak, MI
The American Art Company, Tacoma, WA
Multiples. Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Curator's Focus. Berman Museum of Art, Collegeville, PA
Turned Wood Now. Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe, AZ
Working Beyond Tradition. Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AR
Local Media. Contemporary Crafts Museum, San Francisco, CA
Summer Show. Contemporary Applied Arts, London, England
Wooden Bowls. Galerie Fur Angewandte Kunst, Munich, Germany
International Turned Object Show. Port of History Museum, Philadelphia, PA

1980's & 1970's

The Art of Woodturning. American Craft Museum, New York, NY
California Woodworking. Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
California Design. Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA

Public Collections

Arizona State University Museum, Tempe, AZ
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Mint Museum of Craft & Design, Charlotte, NC
Renwick Gallery, Washington, DC
The Woodturning Center, Philadelphia, PA
Barrow-in-Furness Town Council, Cumbria, England
Cleveland Crafts Centre, Middlesbrough, England
4-B Bachman, Hochdorf, Bern, Switzerland
Gallery in the Forest, Grizedale, Cumbria, England

Private Collections

Fleur & Charles Bresler
Brian & Hana Smooha
Jane & Arthur Mason
Ruth & David Waterbury
Doris & Harry Wolin
Anita & Ronald Wornick