Susan Barrett Merrill Artist Statement

My Fiber Art

Susan Barrett Merrill

I am a weaver who creates fiber sculptural masks, based on a technique given to me in a dream. My work is intuitive. I don’t preconceive designs; I look at the colors and textures of yarns I have spun from Maine island sheep and dyed with plants from my garden. As I begin to work, I arrive at some comfort with a visual rhythm or a color combination and that begins to influence the development of the design. As I continue, repetition in basic patterns may play out, or a variation that feels right at a certain point in the process of building the face. The finished face is a mystery waiting to show itself in three dimensions.

The warp-pulling and shaping that bring the face into being don’t solve the mystery. The face itself contains character and an energy, and the mystery remains. Who is this being? I know it came through my hands, from my preferred kind of wool, spun raw from the fleece, and I know I grew or collected the plants that gave their essential colors to the yarns, and I know the face will only be happy in a certain kind of headdress or felted surround.

I know that many people who view the finished work feel a sudden deep connection with a being that feels alive in front of them. Viewers have told me, sometimes with tears, that they feel a spirit enlivening the face, and that they feel this being speaks to an inner place in them. This kind of response is a privilege for me as an artist.

I use historical techniques with long traditions in my weaving (weft wedging, soumak knotting, kilim-like patterns) and in the felting, such as couched shapes and layered appliqué. I pursue, with passion and persistence, an ancient art, and I believe these techniques and patterns make up part of the palette of fiber artists of the world.

– Susan Barrett Merrill