This is one of a three-piece series commissioned by the city of San Francisco for the Laguna Honda Healthcare Facility, a long-term healthcare facility. Located in the entry lobby, these collages celebrate the San Francisco Bay.

This is one of four pieces created for “12 Voices”, an international juried show that opened at the Dennos Art Museum in Traverse City, Michigan in September of 2008. As the show’s curator put it, “The 12 Voices’ exhibition will give viewers a rare, in-depth look at twelve of the best fabric artists working today.” All four collages have been purchased by private individuals.

This was commissioned by a private collector and depicts the sweep of cliffs separating ocean from bay at Point Reyes.

This is studio work, focusing on the meeting of ocean and river at California’s legendary Big Sur Coast.

This was commissioned as public art by the City of San Francisco. It is installed in the new Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The salt marshes of India Basin, just beyond this building, are among the most productive ecosystems on earth - alive and active - a stark contrast to this building that focuses on death. But the salt marshes are also a place of transitions - from ocean to land, fresh to salt - and always changing with the tide. The grasses, birds and sky reflect in the shallow waters. This building echoes that changing environment in that it is also a place of transition and reflection.  Over it all, the Heron stands regal and tall, looking to the distance, taking the long view, bearing witness, still and watchful, offering a sense of peace and protection.

The edge between land and sea is not a fixed line. It is constantly defining itself with new patterns of water on sand. Miles and miles of beach are pounded, stroked, and gently washed by layer upon layer of water. Beaches are created, softly sloping into the surf. Cliffs are carved out of what had seemed to be solid rock. The one constant is that the shoreline is ever-evolving. All we can observe is a moment in time.

MERLE AXELRAD

MERLE AXELRAD

PAINTING WITH FABRIC