Merle Axelrad ‘s Sacramento artist explores the limits of textile art with her landscapes of the California coast and central valley as well as her nature studies of streams mountains and trees. Ms. Axelrad recently added landmark architecture to her repertoire.
Her collages are comprised of thousands of small pieces of fabric, fiber, paint and cloth. These are carefully fragments arranged, layered, pinned and sewn together. This technique makes her unique among artists working in collage.
She create landscapes made from thousands of tiny pieces of fabric. Fragments of woven color and texture. In my fabric collages, she distill a place to its essence and to this end each piece of fabric is carefully selected to make an individual contribution.
Although my landscapes are recognizable as real places, she approach the various elements as abstract forms. Rocks, hills, and branches - these serve as supporting actors, but the real stars are light and movement. Light creates shadows and reveals forms. The arrangement of these forms leads viewers through the image and creates movement.