Colleen Toutant Merrill

colleenmerrill.com

Colleen Merrill is from Cincinnati, Ohio where she received her Bachelor of Fine Art at the University of Cincinnati. She currently lives in Lexington, Kentucky where she obtained her Masters of Fine Art in Fibers at the University of Kentucky. Through fabricating and re-configuring domestic textiles, her artwork examines how societies’ means of communication has evolved from past to present while impacting social diversions and ideologies. Merrill has exhibited her artwork both regionally and nationally and is published in a variety of cultural and academic journals.

Quilt Statement
A quilt can convey a unique cultural identity as well as a sense of community. A particular pattern title, color or fabric becomes a reflection of time and place. A consistent or erratic stitch can determine whether the quilt was constructed individually or communally at a quilting bee. Outsourcing of domestic textiles and the popularity of commercial fabric and quilting kits has changed the identity and communal aspect of quilt making. Through re-configuring quilts the artwork examines the social, political and geographical associations of quilt making.

Needlework Trousseau Statement
Embroidery and quilt making have been used as a platform for the communication of moral and religious beliefs throughout history. Likewise social networking and other media outlets are frequently used to convey identity through the expression of thoughts, beliefs and image. As technologies develop such as facial recognition or data mining, our data and images become more vulnerable to the invasion of privacy. This series examines the intangible artifacts of our modern relationships, what is the impact of social media on the formation of our personal and collective identities?

The material comes with so much conceptual meaning

It was a way of women empowering themselves

Quilts do have so much emotional baggage tied to them

I've never been the type to keep a sketch book

I still think there is still prejudice