COLLAGE & SOCIAL PURPOSE : WORKSHOP RESIDENCIES October 2023
The October 2023 Workshop-Residencies at MERZ will explore collage as a contemporary working method informed by history and ideology. MERZ is inspired by the working experiences of Kurt Schwitters and Hannah Höch. This 28 day residency will support artists to interpret three themes introduced during Workshops in week one. The Workshop Week will demonstrate how... Read More
Justin Tuttle : Kolaj Artist Workshop
Justin Tuttle arrived at MERZ for a week’s collage workshop with the Kolaj Institute. Titled ‘Passing Place’ three groups of ten artists have been exploring place and community in and around Sanquhar.
Heather Stearns : Kolaj Artist Workshop
Heather Stearns arrived at MERZ for a week’s collage workshop with the Kolaj Institute. Titled ‘Passing Place’ three groups of ten artists have been exploring place and community identity in and around Sanquhar.
On Request : MERZ in 2009
Fourteen years ago the MERZ site was an abandoned and derelict plumbers’ yard. There were two remaining buildings from Sanquhar’s former ‘lemonade’ factory of the 1890s, or Sharps Aerated Water Company. Work began on repairing and repurposing the brick built factory to open as MERZ Gallery. In 2011 MERZ Gallery opened with David Rushton‘s exhibition... Read More
Janice Horne : Kolaj Artist Workshop
Janice Horne arrived at MERZ for a week’s collage workshop with the Kolaj Institute. Titled ‘Passing Place’ three groups of ten artists have been exploring place and community identity in and around Sanquhar.
Three Collage Artist Residencies in Scotland : 6-28 April 2023
MERZ will be hosting the Kolaj Institute’s three week-long residencies throughout April. Following a successful collage residency programme September 2022, April we’ll see thirty artists on week-long workshops exploring local folklore and tradition. Last September we also celebrated the second anniversary of the Schwitters’ Army exhibition at MERZ. Coordinated by Ric Kasini Kadour the... Read More
Untitled (2022) MERZ film in Festivals
In December the MERZ animation Untitled (2022) was one of fifty films screened at the European Short Film Festival in Berlin. On 25th February Untitled (2022) will be one of ten films screened at the Osprey Short Film Awards in Keswick. The animation, with puppets and shadow figures imagines Kurt Schwitters‘ memories during his final... Read More
Sanquhar Pottery Project
Kristin Powers has joined MERZ for a couple of months to assist refining the local clay. For this year’s Sanquhar Arts Festival at the end of May MERZ will be showing the results of experiments to improve the local clay for making ceramics and pots. For many years the local clay was used for bricks,... Read More
Jane Frere : Building the Ark
MERZ made a visit to Jane Frere‘s studio with artist Olga Lapteva and designer Anna Seisian from Ukraine. We encountered Jane’s ‘elephant in the room’ created especially for COP26. We were talking about war: all wars. The average west-world human contributes ten tons of CO2e per capita per annum into the atmosphere. If we are... Read More
Ginny Krueger : a wee locket
Ginny Krueger is the November artist in residence at MERZ. When travelling Ginny works with inks while at home in the US she focuses on encaustic, a mixture of beeswax, resin and pigment. Ginny will be exhibiting her work at MERZ on 3rd December under the title ‘a wee locket’.
Hsin-Yu Chen : MERZ media consultant
Hsin-Yu recently graduated from the University of Portsmouth. As part of her stay at MERZ Hsin-Yu has been devising marketing strategies to interest Mandarin speaking graduates in the UK. Following their education overseas students are able to stay in the UK for up to two years and Hsin-Yu has highlighted the opportunities residencies offer for... Read More
Jane Frere : 10 years of Summerhall model
Jane Frere introduces the elements of her ’10 years’ model which due to Covid was not shown at Summerhall. MERZ is hoping to show the model at the Museum of Model Art sometime in 2023.
Cat Robertson : Artist in Residence at Merz Elterwater, during KS75
During the Summer of 2022 Catriona Robertson was artist in residence at Merz in Elterwater. In 2019 Cat had been the first artist in residence at MERZ in Sanquhar, in a project supported by Creative Scotland. Here Cat introduces her recent residency work responding to both the devastating winds that caused much damage at Merz... Read More
Schwitters’ Army Reunion
In September 2022 the Schwitters’ Army Reunion celebrated the archive of 202 collages collected during Ric Kasini Kadour’s residency at MERZ in early 2020. A blue plaque was unveiled on the wall at MERZ. The Schwitters’ Army collection is housed at MERZ and is available for viewing and research, while an exhibition is planned for... Read More
Untitled (2022)
A ten minute film based on footage found in Kurt Schwitters’ former lodgings in Ambleside. Premiered at the reunion of the Schwitters’ Army at MERZ, Sanquhar on 10th September 2022.
Nicholas Milkovich : The Next Virus
Working with Cabell Glancy’s sounds Nicholas Milkovich explores how synthetic materials can correspond to the ‘man made – or induced – viruses that the world has recently become inflicted with.
Olivia Irvine & Isabelle Bonzom : Fresco at MERZ
Olivia Irvine and Isabelle Bonzom outline the processes and techniques involved in the recent fresco painted at MERZ by Olivia under Isabelle’s guidance.
Glòria Coll Domingo : Poet in Residence
Glòria Coll Domingo is a Catalan poet and musician in residence at MERZ. Her work as a poet has been awarded several prizes: Amadeu Oller for unpublished young poets, Miquel Martí i Pol from University UPC and recently this year the prestigious Jocs Florals, a contest with centuries of history. Glòria has published, so far,... Read More