Merridawn Duckler is a poet and conceptual artist who creates sculptures and installations derived from language, storytelling, found materials and dreams. Books and Clothes is a show of artist books, an art genre that considers the book as an object rather than a subject and art clothing, which are artworks meant to be worn on the body. Duckler’s gallery-wide installation invites audience interaction with books whose pages turn, shred and unravel and clothing meant for gallery visitors to read and don. Grounded in Art Brut and naïve aesthetics, Duckler’s work pairs humble, everyday materials and processes associated with childhood crafts with high concept executions that reference art history, cultural milieu and the historic avant-garde. Lawrence Weiner calls language “just another material to make visual art,” whereas Duckler considers language the sacred repository of visual memory and aesthetic identities that go beyond the self. She is the author of four books and over two hundred published works, winner of the Beulah Rose poetry prize, the Elizabeth Sloane Tyler Memorial Award from Woven Tale Press, judged by Ann Beattie, the CNF prize from Invisible City and the Drama prize from Arts and Letters at Georgia College. She’s received grants from the Oregon Arts Commission, RACC and residencies across the US.
Join Blackfish Gallery to experience the Books and Clothes exhibit
First Thursday Opening Reception: July 2, 2026, 5 – 8 p.m.
Artist Talk and Fashion Catwalk: July 12, 2026, 3 p.m.