Arts Fest: Somewhere Between Here and There
Merryn Edgar claims she fell into art. She grew up in a creative family and attended the Oxford School of Art. After leaving England at the age of 18, she tried various creative pursuits.
“I always loved painting, and thought of myself primarily as a painter but I’ve always been able to do every sort of craft I turned my hand to. I was taught knitting when I was 21, and right now I am learning to crochet granny squares which will become a long cardigan.”
Other recent projects have included elaborately decorated cupcakes and a custom mosaic backsplash constructed with materials from the homeowner’s property.
“I was doing a lot of very large oil paintings when I fell into mosaic,” she says. “Someone gave me a bunch of materials and I wasn’t sure what to do with them so they sat on a shelf until I felt inspired. Now I have about 300 jam jars in my basement full of bits of material.”
Edgar describes her mosaics as very elaborate jigsaw puzzles, constructed without grout. That means pieces must be fit together very precisely.
“You can’t put a piece of glass into a space where it doesn’t fit so I cut hundreds of pieces and keep trying until I find the piece that fits. A couple of my mosaics contain more than 26,000 pieces of glass, stones and broken pottery.”
Edgar says most of her pieces are abstract landscapes.
“Sometimes the materials dictate what I’m doing and sometimes I start out with a vision or a palette in mind. I never draw a pattern. The entire process is very fluid.”
As an artist, Edgar loves to evoke a response from her audience.
“One woman burst into tears in front of one of my pieces and it was very gratifying,” she said.
In addition to large wall-mounted mosaics, she creates mosaic jewellery using tiny bits of glass and millefiori from Murano.
“The millefiori is like pulled candy with the design going right through the rod. Then I slice them very thin so each piece is like a tiny flower,” she said.
Edgar also dabbles in pottery.
“I like to create miniature pots and decorate them with lots or bright colours. I started using really bright, intense colours during the pandemic when so much seemed dull and grey,” she said. “I kept going with the colours because people respond to it. I especially like using bright colours when I’m feeling especially miserable. It seems to help.”
Edgar raised her children in the Port Credit/Mississauga area, and eventually made her way to Collingwood, where she now lives and works. This is her third year at Creemore Festival of the Arts.
“I love the Creemore show,” she said. “The set up is relatively easy because you’re inside for the whole weekend and the Creemore crowd are art lovers. People are extremely receptive and appreciative and they come to buy.”
Merryn Edgar’s work will be on display at Mad River Pottery, 113 Mill St., Creemore, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 4 and 5.
Art walks
Yasmeen Kazak, curatorial assistant at the MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie, will be leading “art walks” during the festival.
Kazak is an artist who explores intimate feminist issues and her identity as an Arab-Canadian woman through painting, collage, and installation.
She has helped organize public art projects and Culture Days for the City of Barrie, and has volunteered on committees for Art@RVH and the Ottawa Art Gallery.
Meet at the info booth at Creemore Village Green for a guided tour of curator Kazak’s festival picks at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4 and 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 5.
Full schedule at phahs.ca.
