Artist Merran Berry is a firecracker of creativity with seemingly endless imagination. On her pretty semi-rural Pearcedale property sits an enormous potato shed. She has converted it into a rustic art gallery furnished with gems from the hard rubbish. It’s brimming with an eclectic mix of original art from paintings and sculpture to photography and mixed media collage.
The Potato Shed Gallery opens to reveal an equine sculpture built from a wild variety of found objects. It embodies Merran’s two loves – art and horses. As a girl she was so keen to ride that she designed a horse made from chicken wire and concrete slurry with skateboard wheels underneath. She planned to ride it into town. The engineering proved to be too complex then, but now it’s complete and takes pride of place in her studio.
Merran comes from a matriarchal line of artists. Her mother is an artist as was her grandmother. In fact, it was her mum who encouraged Merran to enter a painting in the same professional art exhibition that she was entering; there, at eleven, Merran sold her first artwork. She was hooked on the idea of becoming a career artist.
From the time that she could hold a pencil, Merran was drawing. She wasn’t allowed to watch TV as a child, but she could use any of her Mum’s art supplies. As a result, she was always making something: little figures from polymer modelling material, hand-built clay objects, leather craft, drawings, sculpture and paintings. Her favourite subject was horses, of course.
Merran’s talent was so evident in high school, that the art teachers gave her full rein of the art supply room. She could create anything she wanted. “I was always experimenting. I believe the subject defines the method. I can’t wait to get my hands on any new medium. Right now, I’m loving old picture frames and figuring out what I can put in them,” she says.
Instead of going to art school, Merran learned in a completely different way: through inquiry. Her first job was as a picture framer. “When an artist came in with a piece I liked, I’d ask if I could come to their studio to see how they made it. They would invite me 90% of the time because they were so pleased that I liked their work. I met a lot of artists and asked lots of questions,” she says. It was an excellent informal grounding in methods.
Life drawing classes were considered essential. One of her mentors, Carol Boothman OAM told Merran, “Life drawing is the gymnasium for the artist.” So, it was considered a non-negotiable. Merran credits another mentor, Connie Walker OAM for giving her the ongoing gift of encouragement. The OAM in her title stood for ‘Our Amazing Mate’ in the eyes of Merran and other artists who Connie Walker mentored.
When working as office manager at Malvern Arts Society, Merran organised the art classes, again; she came into contact with many artists, art students and new opportunities to learn. She was also President of the Waverley Arts Society for many years and she met her most influential mentors there.
Merran likes to seek out new materials and push them as far as they can go. “Some artworks are best defined by drawing or painting. Some might call for another medium,” she says. Merran describes her work as ‘imaginative impressionism’. Her goal as an artist is to comment on the human experience.
Moving to the Mornington Peninsula has been a dream come true. “The Peninsula has brought a groundedness because it’s what I have always wanted. It was my life dream to have a horse and space to paint. I have both here,” she says. If she ever gets stuck in a rut, she rearranges her studio for inspiration.
Talking to other artists, seeing what they are working on and how they are creating is also inspiring for Merran. She joined the Peninsula Studio Trail (PST) last year and has enjoyed the camaraderie of the group and sharing her studio with the public on PST Open Studio Days.
Everything is a series of lines and shapes, light and dark, but there are infinite ways to arrange them
Now she provides and receives inspiration from teaching in the Potato Shed Gallery. She likes to see what students come in with and then teaches them different ways to look at things. “Everything is a series of lines and shapes, light and dark, but there are infinite ways to arrange them. That’s the art of it,” she says.
Merran’s studio is open by appointment and on PST Open Studio Days. She teaches the first Saturday of the month from 11am to 4pm.
@merranberryartist.art
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