ruby merritt
layers 41.7500° N, 74.0833° W
Spelæology Series
The yeild of my fascition with evaporation as process. The meterial is recycled coffee cups made from paper and wax; I began to collect them and would leave them full of my own-pigmented solutions. Consisting of a variety of mediums: sumi ink and ink hand-made from local black walnuts, teas, natural and synthetic dies, powered organic materials and spices. The cups were then left alone, while the liquid evaporated and the solutes (pigments and particles that do not evaporate) would adhere to the cup, leaving organic patterns that resemble erosion lines, stratifacation, planentary scapes and earthly landscapes. This series consists of over 300 cups, and is still an on-going project.
Stratum-Strata
Forces of matter and energy share a quality of uncertainty. This unknown fascinates me, and encourages me to discover it’s mystical secrets. Our planet is constantly processing cycles within the matter that surrounds us. This on-going series of drawings is a record of this phenomenological experience happening. The spontaneity and serendipity within my process formulates a happening of diffused history. This collection is the record of evaporation. Within this process the make up of mixtures and particles are exploited through the natural-cycles and occurrences absent of my own hand. These physical forces of matter yield a creation that lives through changes and renewals of existence, and even depend of physical environmental changes. I am watching, recording, and nurturing from afar, the process itself, encapsulates the visual phenomena chemistry leaves behind. Tracking the process scientifically and focusing on the transformations related to visual patterns mimicing nature has synthesized a mega cosmic existence of visual wonder.
Evaporated Drawings
Pigment Notebook
The Pigment Notebook, is a collection of experiments, research and theories documented by an alter ego: E. Merritt. A early 19th century scientist studying natural and synthetic pigments at the dawn of synthetics creation. E. Merritt performed investigations with the chemical, crystallographic, and morphological variety of a pigment’s molecular properties. E. Merritt specialized within the exploration of pigment spectroscopy, the dispersion of light through the pigment’s mass, breaking down into its component colors- displaying physical properties that determine its molecular makeup.
The reveal, the submersion, the forgotten, the rediscovered, the marvel, the suspense, the moment, the unknown, the curiosity, the formalized, the thrill, the patience, the hunt
the act of seeing, the observed, the captured, the evidence, the drive, the mystery, the nurturing, the collecting, the nothing, the phase, the matter.
Objects
Non-sense ≥ No-sense
Collaborative Installation with artists Ian McCrohan and Necole Zayatz. Project 308 Gallery, North Tonawanda, NY.
ology
Earthmade works are meant to decay and decompose over time, giving back-contemplating sustainability and exposing the powers of productivity. These Ecoart projects address the fact that art is constructed out of matter, its energies, are stored in matter, and its processes are manifested in matter.
It is important that my work creates itself, made from a natural process or formed from a microorganism. Through this method of exploration, my materials within my practice become something found, reused and habitable. It is essential that my work is renewable, many times recycled while having the ability to re-nourish. The object’s intriguing structures (much like natures’) yield a full-sensory experience, however it is pivotal that they focus attention to the momentousness of our planets’ natural cycles, and the precedence that the organic world consumes.
My objective connected to my work is to combine the stimulus of wonder, ecology, nature as a pattern maker, and me as the mimicker of natural process, to spread information and influence conservation. My practice consists of many branching ideas, much like a root system. At the core, my drive and inspiration comes from the natural world-the forests, soils, microorganisms, and the molecular processes, which now, at this time- need our humanly attention and devotions more than ever. My generation is to revive and expand interest in renewable energy, and biotechnology that can naturally regenerate, recycle and re-nourish the natural world that we are innately dependent on for survival. Through my ambitions to get out into the field, and my devotion to the earth- My artwork is meant to spread the visual wonder that I am so captivated by-in hopes to advance my ideas and passions to others for the sake of conservation, and knowledge merging with discovery, while documenting nature to improve its capacity to support us.
Ology’s unique opportunity to interact with materials aligns a physical component of experience and awareness to the expressive narrative and significance, of the Earth’s minerals, soils, and organic matters. This work reclaims the skills associated with engaging in direct interactions with the Earth and Art.
An Install displaying my rock collection; the arrangement is organized Lithologically: Fossils, Devonian Concretions (Marcellus Shale Void Rocks), Lake Erie and Ontario Rocks, Found Unconformities-‘odd shape’ Rocks, Granites, Agates, Mineral and Crystals; equaling a total of 468 specimens. The Rocks transcend the traditional representation of the landscape, by transporting the viewer to the landscape in which the rock came from, or to their own rock collecting experience. The display is meant to invoke the wondrous spectacle that the natural world has limited ownership over.
Sequence Stratigraphic
Mirrored Disappearance
Vessel is defined as a hollow or concave utensil, as a cup, bowl, pitcher, or vase, used for holding liquids. On display each object is a meaningful vessel that contributes to my artistic process. Its objectivity has been displaced, where now the importance is placed on the development of the vessels content’s evaporated patterns. The objects placed on the shelves were filled with liquid on the opening day, and left to evaporate for the duration of the exhibition; therefore the audience was able to view the objects multiple times, witnessing the phase-change.
Arranged in three different levels, the shelves function to show distinct states and phases of liquids. The top shelf houses capped liquids, halting the evaporation process. The middle row shows the liquids in the process of evaporation. Throughout the show these liquids will continue to evaporate, which shows how nature is in a constant flux. Lastly, the bottom shelf showcases the precipitated substance- an array of solid forms- products from the lengthy process of evaporation.
Chroma-phase
Collected Matter
Being shown is the exploitation of the raw and synthesized materials that are used or created from my process of mimicking earth cycles. The materials range from liquid solutions to the pigments found from the earth, nature-made objects, along with collected natural samples. The display evokes collected experimentation and the matter’s transformation, separation and evaporation over time. The shadows and objects interaction with light (opaque/transparent colors) are also a part of the installation’s intrigue.