For Immediate Release:
Contact: David Kuehn, Executive Director
Cotuit Center for the Arts
Phone: (508) 428-0669
Email: David@cotuitcenterforthearts.org
Website: ArtsOnTheCape.org
“Backbone,” “Earth and Sky,” and “Unwinding” Art Exhibits at Cotuit Center for the Arts
Cotuit Center for the Arts presents three gallery shows August 29 through October 5: “Backbone” by
Tim Merry, “Earth and Sky” by Mellissa Morris and Claudine Metrick, and “Unwinding” by L. Michelle
Law. The opening reception is Saturday, September 5, from 5 to 7 PM. An Artist Talk begins at 5 PM.
“The idea of a backbone, both literally and figuratively, has been relevant to my work for the last 20
years,” said artist Tim Merry. “Literally, a backbone is a main support, or something that resembles
the spinal column in function, position, or appearance, like the keel of a ship or the ridge of a
mountain range.
“Figuratively, having a backbone refers to someone who is brave and courageous, not cowardly,” said
Merry. “People who are fearless, people you can trust and rely on, people who are going to do what
they say they are going to do. I love those kinds of people.”
Merry’s show will include sculpture, paintings, and drawings, most of which were completed this
year. His large-scale paintings, generally 6’X6’, have highly worked surfaces and incorporate
nontraditional materials. One observer likened his paintings to ancient parchment scrolls that were
written on, wiped off, and written on again, so that layers of previous markings remained faintly
visible.
“Most of my work,” said Merry, “begins with an idea or an impulse that becomes a strong visual
conception. The work of the painting is to create something that has never been seen before, that I
have no choice but to release. I try not to be influenced by the work of others. My best influences
come from nature, travel, ancient Roman alleys, walls in New York.”
Recently he noticed an old house, built in 1780, being torn down. “It was a magnificent structure
with hand-hewn beams, 12-inch hand-hewn cedar pegs, and hand-forged square nails,” said Merry.
“I talked to the foreman—they were just going to throw everything away. Sometimes I wish I weren’t
compelled to do this, but I hauled away over six tons of timbers. They looked skeletal in nature; they
had supported the structure.”
Merry used the timbers in various ways, applied gold leaf and other materials, made markings on
them, and turned them into sculptures that were quite different from their original use.
This exhibit will include a 20-foot-long vertebrae, which Merry describes as “almost a talisman or
effigy that is not unlike a backbone, an amalgamation, a symbol or totem.”
Merry has a sense of humor about his art. He has incorporated the “spineless” SpongeBob
SquarePants into his show. “I’ve learned quite a bit from SpongeBob,” he said.
“Earth and Sky” is a joint exhibit by Mellissa Morris and Claudine Metrick, who have been friends and
sources of inspiration for each other since they met in graduate school. Both work in abstract
landscapes, though their work is very different.
For this show, Morris has created a series of large (3’X4’ and 4’X5’), colorful paintings that are both
joyful and spiritual paintings. Many depict moon-like spheres floating in space amid intricate threedimensional-looking shapes and lines, with perhaps a flower or two in the mix. Vivid colors evoke a
happy mood.
“I have always thought of myself as a poet, and paint is the medium I use to explore and express my
lyrical nature,” said Morris. “My work is gestural, spiritual, narrative, and emotional. It is about
hashing out an internal relationship to my imagination.”
The beauty of natural world is a source of inspiration for Morris. “I’m an abstract artist, trying to
express something through my paintings that can’t be verbalized. The abstract landscape gives
viewers something they can recognize and relate to. It’s a vehicle for me to share what I am trying to
explain.”
She incorporates nontraditional materials, such as glitter, hair, and dried flowers into her work.
Morris and Metrick like to play with the horizon line in their paintings. “We realized that the horizon
line is both a separating element and a joining element between earth and sky in our paintings,”
Morris said. “It’s also very poetic, in terms of the relationship between inside and outside.”
Metrick is showing a group of small (11”X12”) drawings of abstract landscape called “Dreaming
2014,” which she worked on last winter to study black and white values. The drawings often depict
weather-related images, and Metrick added gold-toned mica powder to her drawings, to emphasize
one element or another. “It makes the drawings look a little like old orotype photographs,” she said.
Metrick describes her drawings in her artist’s statement, “Tornados take shape from whorls of dark
charcoal; and darkened skies are dotted by flecks of glittering mica. Deep expanses reminiscent of
the night sky unfurl before the viewer dissolving in large bursts of frenetic marks and velvety puffs of
charcoal smoke. The works are psychological landscapes filled with images of tempests, clouds, and
the cosmos.”
Many of the drawings include an arch that “snuck in” to the pictures. “The arch reminded me of
Renaissance artwork, an Italianate arch or something you would see on an altarpiece,” said Metrick.
“I was really interested in finding that light and creating that space in the drawing.”
A friend told her that the arches looked like prayers. “They are a peaceful, meditative moment in the
drawings,” said Metrick.
L. Michelle Law has created a series of colored pencil drawings of landscapes on paper scrolls for
“Unwindings.” The landscapes depict what one would see walking along a path or a taking a drive in
the country. The drawings, much wider than they are tall, look as though they have just been
unwound from a scroll.
Law was born and raised in Illinois, where her love of architecture and landscape were inspired by
long neighborhood walks and Sunday drives with family. She made her first scroll when the
Barnstable Land Trust asked her to make a piece of art based on one of their green spaces, a long
stage coach route.
“It was very long and winding so the idea of a long, winding drawing came to me,” said Law. She
created another winding pathway drawing for the Beebe Woods art exhibit at Highfield Hall in
Falmouth.
This exhibit will include scenes of Illinois farmland, moonlight on the ocean, and more winding,
woodsy pathways.
Admission to the galleries, including the opening reception and Artist Talk on September 5, is free
and open to the public. Cotuit Center for the Arts is at 4404 Route 28 in Cotuit. The galleries are open
daily 10 AM to 4 PM and also may be viewed during evening events at the performance center.
For more information, visit artsonthecape.org or call 508-428-0669.Cotuit Center for the Arts is at
4404 Route 28 in Cotuit.
# # #
What:
Art Exhibits: “Backbone” by Tim Merry, “Earth and Sky” by Mellissa Morris and Claudine Metrick,
and “Unwinding” by L. Michelle Law.
Where:
Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Route 28, Cotuit
When:
Exhibit: August 29 to October 5, 10 AM to 4 PM and during events; Opening Reception and Artist
Talk: Saturday, September 5, 5 to 7 PM
Admission:
Free
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