This spring HEDGE is enthused to feature a two woman exhibition featuring Meryl Engler and Rita Montlack. Their artistic voices converge through woodcut prints, photography and installations, on view March 19- April 26.

Sharing detailed processes of sorting, layering and careful color selection, these artists create distinct imagery that interprets our ever changing world. They interpret nature, architecture, figures and pop culture by altering representation with meticulous methods to create enchanting, even surrealist works on paper.

Engler describes her process, “Carving and printing are cathartic acts that require the full presence of self. I think of my reduction woodcuts almost like watercolor, printing translucent layers of color that mix on paper. The result is physical, subtle, and bold.” Meryl pushes the limits of printmaking with her larger than life woodcuts, chronicling relationships, landscapes and human presence in our environment. She will be showing a variety of prints at HEDGE in her show titled, The Constant Urge to Walk All Night. Meryl received her MFA from the University of Nebraska and is currently working as Adjunct Faculty at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Montlack’s work has been seen in numerous exhibits and public spaces throughout Northeast Ohio, as well as Florida and New York, but it’s been a few years since her last formal gallery show. Her recent obsession with Artificial Intelligence has taken her work in new, unorthodox directions. She explains, “The title of my show, AI: Artificial Insanity addresses the issues of intelligence combined with the question of insanity. I mimic this concept in the contemplation and creation of my work; taking real photographs, then digitally manipulating them until they become surreal. Have they become better renditions or are they completely insane?”