Sharon Merschat

by Christi Marsico
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 2:49 PM MST

When it comes to drawing the line for art, Sharon Merschat doesn't.

"Everything is art, and my whole thing is working with space in paintings, collages, landscape design and interiors," Merschat said in an interview with the Journal.

Merschat's artistic endeavors and organic process of creating are like the many colors and patterns that comprise a kaleidoscope: bright, unique and always evolving with every turn.

After receiving her BFA degree from Ohio University in Athens, Merschat made ends meet by teaching educational art while living in a small town in Illinois.

According to Merschat, she enjoys working with students who don't feel like they are inventive at first, but through exploring and discovering art, find their creative side.

While raising her own kids, Merschat took pleasure in working with clay.

“Painting was too intense with kids, so it was clay for years," Merschat noted.

During the child-rearing years, her clay work focused on hard building and sculpting, and as her kids got older, Merschat began to paint and teach again.

Her family moved to Casper in the mid-1970s, and she taught at East Junior High for 11 years.

She also instructed a water media class at Casper College at night. When the summers came around, Merschat started art classes for children and adults at her Fields Creek Studio.

She retired from teaching seven years ago. Five years ago, she started her business, Fields Creek 104, which features her art, as well as merchandise for the home, garden and babies.

Her artistic mediums these days don't just stay in the clay and paint venues either.

"I like to work on canvas, wood, tin, really anything," Merschat said, adding that she finds inspiration in animals and nature.

"Cats always find a way into my work, and nature and the environment are very important to me. And although I don't always depict it in a realistic way, I'm always thinking of it," Merschat said.

When it comes to her clay and painting process, she is drawn to working with layers.

"I am always experimenting with different materials, keeping it fun and spontaneous because I don't want to know the outcome of my artwork in the beginning," Merschat said.

From painting, gluing, stamping and scratching, her artistic adventure can go in an array of directions while using a variety of paints, such as acrylics, gouache, watercolors and even house paint.

According to Merschat, coming to the completion of a piece of artwork is the hardest part for her as she fine tunes the design elements and comprises her message.

"I want people to look at my work and see different things and feel engaged in a story," Merschat said.

Having trained as a professional artist, Merschat can sign “NWS.” referring to National Watercolor Society, behind her signature as long as her piece is primarily a watercolors work.

However, she prefers to go outside of those boundaries.

"For a long time, I was a fine arts artist, but there's something about everyday art that's very important to me, and I really like making functional and nonfunctional art for the home and garden," the artist said.

Using saturated colors and textures signifying a dramatic flair, as well as creating emerging forms where the viewer has to really look hard to see if the image is animal or landscape, is one of Merschat's favorite aspects when creating art.

She currently is working on a series that is personal to her. It incorporates pieces of charred willows that she is creating into small sculptures, along with mixed media from outside her home and studio, which almost burned down last summer.

"It's a commentary of the aftermath of that fire," Merschat said.

With innovative comfort and imaginative character that knows no bounds, Merschat's art is one kind of wonderful.

Print this story   |   Email this story