Piece description from the artist
This piece was meant to illustrate wax's incredible ability to add even more depth to a scene. The electric lines were inked in and fused on different layers of wax as I built this scene from the background forward. Each layer is fused to the layer of wax underneath with various forms of heat, such as hot irons, heat guns, and blowtorches. This piece has 20-30 layers of wax, adding a depth to the piece another medium cannot achieve.
Like many of my pieces, this was inspired by growing up and living in St. Louis. The wax lends itself as the perfect medium to be able to depict the muggy, summer air of the River City. I have very vivid memories of watching the telephone wires and electric lines go past from the backseat window of the car. There was one apartment building in particular that always has at least one pair of shoes hanging from the wires in more or less the same place. I would ask the particular driver why they were hanging there and I always got a different answer. Even today, if you Google what hanging shoes from a telephone wire means you get many different urban legends. From drug dealers to gang shootings to a simple kids' game that frankly, means nothing. The whole urban myth is just as fuzzy as the air in St. Louis during a summer sunset.
Leah Merriman is native to St. Louis, working primarily in encaustics to create ethereal, layered abstract landscapes on wood and paper. She also creates detailed illustrations of urban scenery and architecture and will often combine the two.
Merriman was influenced heavily by personal childhood and young adult illnesses and often found that being able to escape her own physical situation was only possible through her mind. She creates worlds you can "go into” and look around. Places you can stay in for a while, watch the scenery shift light, textures and colors in conjunction with the time of day. By practicing stillness and the awareness of being in the moment, an appreciation of your own mind’s ability to travel inward can be honed while still being acutely aware of your immediate physical world, striking an intriguing balance through the marriage of patience and escapism.
Merriman apprenticed in sculpture and illustration under local St. Louis Master Artist Rudolph Torrini in her late teen and early adult years.
She studied Drawing and Sculpture at Fontbonne University in St. Louis as well as photography and videography at Webster University, St. Louis, MO. She
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