Always at the Ready | Rachel Merrill

Always at the Ready explores the layers of artificial experience in simulated relational media, attaching to one experience and detaching from another while relegating people to winners and losers. Using tediously crafted artifacts, the visiting team is idle in anticipation, ready to participate but unable to move from the comfort of their synthetic spectacle. The repetitive and monotonous work (laboring over the costumes and props, performing pseudo-scripted choreography, and manipulating manufactured video) is a calculated part of momentary grandeur, always at the ready.

Rachel Merrill was an athlete once. Her toe-touch-reach won her an achievement award and a certified document from the President’s Council on Physical Fitness in 1992. After winning this high achievement, she continues to have a competitive edge by exploring spectacles, American sports, and competition. Merrill’s interdisciplinary approach integrates textiles, sculpture, and performance into video projections and installations.Merrill received her BA from Northwestern University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and earned her MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hill, Michigan. She is a Professor of Art at Grand View University in Des Moines, IA, where she received the Innovation in Teaching and Excellence in Scholarship Awards. She is the recipient of the Iowa Fellowship and Catalyst Grant, made possible by the Iowa Arts Council and the National Endowment of the Arts. Her work has won several other awards, grants and residencies continuing her reach. 

Gallery Hours:
Monday through Thursday 9:00 AM-6:00 PM and by appointment