Hugh Merrill

Much has been said and written about the internationally recognized printmaker, Hugh Merrill. He earned a B.F.A. degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and an M.F.A. degree from the School of Art and Architecture at Yale University, where he worked with (and was influenced by) John Cage, Divine, Allen Ginsberg, and others. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mellon Foundation, was the recipient of a Yaddo/Hand Hallow Fellowship,...See more

Much has been said and written about the internationally recognized printmaker, Hugh Merrill. He earned a B.F.A. degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and an M.F.A. degree from the School of Art and Architecture at Yale University, where he worked with (and was influenced by) John Cage, Divine, Allen Ginsberg, and others. He has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mellon Foundation, was the recipient of a Yaddo/Hand Hallow Fellowship, and was presented with the Teaching Excellence in Printmaking Award at the Southern Graphics Council Conference in 2007. His artwork has been exhibited internationally and collected by major museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, the Harvard Art Museum, the Cranbrook Art Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. In the early 1990s, Merrill began grappling with the injustice and inequality present in our society and launched a near 30-year commitment to engage art and activism together. While serving as Executive Director of the not-for-profit group Chameleon Arts, he has directed outreach to homeless and at-risk youth and facilitated countless projects that unite artists with activist groups. Merrill is currently a professor in the printmaking department at the Kansas City Art Institute, where his social practice curriculum teaches young artists to engage in community development and advocate for social issues. See less