The "Music of Light," 2004, for example, hangs suspended over the grand staircase of the Music Center at Strathmore; it is more than four stories in height, and 96 feet in length.
NEW YORK, NY, July 07, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Meryl Taradash, MFA has been included in Marquis Who's Who. Meryl Taradash has earned distinction for more than four decades of work creating site-specific, wind-driven sculptures the world over. Individuals chosen to be profiled in Marquis Who's Who are people whose noteworthy accomplishments, professional recognition and prominence in their fields, are those whose work has reference value, meriting wider visibility and notice.
In 1984, Meryl Taradash established the Taradash Studio. "Light Dance," 1984 was the first work fabricated by the Taradash Studio, and the first public art commission awarded the artist. "Light Dance," 1984 was a suspension of lucite, bringing outdoor light into the depths of a four-story interior atrium. The artist designed the sculpture as a site-specific work for the Rutgers University School of Medicine, Camden, New Jersey.
All of the Taradash work, since the days of "Light Dance," have been built by the Taradash Studio, New York, and shipped worldwide as needed. In 1992, Wayne LaPierre joined the Studio as its chief fabricator-engineer.
The focus of Meryl Taradash's practice is two-pronged: sited, wind-driven sculpture and sited indoor suspensions. The "Music of Light," 2004, for example, hangs suspended over the grand staircase of the Music Center at Strathmore, one of the performing sites of the Baltimore Symphony, Maryland. The sculpture is more than four stories in height, and 96 feet in length. "The Caged Bird Dances II," 2001, has been located outdoors at the Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey, since 2007. In 2011, the sculpture was purchased by the International Sculpture Center, thus ensuring the work remains on site at Grounds For Sculpture.
All of Meryl Taradash's work has been designed to be animated by ambient light and shadow, all of it moving gently in the wind. For a good many years, the American medical sector has been a steady source of interest and support for Taradash's work. "Etoile en L'Air," 2008, for example, now hangs in the University of Virginia School of Nursing.
Meryl Taradash is ever sensitive to both the placement of her work, and the viewer's response--whoever that might be who stops a moment to see light, lines, and shape in the artist's work. The Taradash Studio's "Sundial Memorial Project," 2003, sponsored by the World Trade Center's 9.11 Memorial website, remained on view from 2003-2021.
In 2022, Meryl Taradash was invited by the European Cultural Council to display her sculpture in the Marinaressa Gardens overlooking the Grand Canal as part of the 2023 Venice Biennale. The artist chose "Sisyphus," 2001, restored 2021, to make that journey to Venice. Critic Mauro Bianchini wrote of the "sinuosity of 'Sisifo"' and its "astral temporal cadences." The work was a grand success, in the eyes of visitors and critics alike.
Meryl Taradash has been awarded two Ford Foundation Grants (Pratt Institute, 1977, 1978); as well as a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant in 2014. In 2015, and again in 2017, she won first-prize in the International Competition of Kinetic Art for her artwork.
Taradash's very first solo sculpture exhibition was at Gallery Henoch in New York City, 1987. In 1992-1993, the David Bermant Foundation toured "Wind Dancing," 1992, cross-country from California to Florida. In 2010, the Long Island Children's Museum, New York, was the site of "Light, Wind, and the Art of Meryl Taradash," a major solo exhibition of the artist's work.
Meryl Taradash earned her BFA and MFA degrees at Pratt Institute, New York. She also studied at Connecticut College, Connecticut, and the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta, Canada. From time to time, the artist has lectured and led sculpture workshops as an adjunct or visiting professor at the New York City College of Technology, New York; the School of Visual Arts, New York, Montclair State University, New Jersey; and St. Peter's University, New Jersey.
Meryl Taradash is an American artist whose home and studio are located in New York City. In the near future she is hopeful of establishing a sculpture garden in conjunction with the Taradash Studio. The artist wants people to see her work. She dreams of the day when school children will come on field trips with their teachers to see the gentle lines of wind and sun in her sculpture, both indoors and outside. As Meryl Taradash knows well, sculpture opens everyone's eyes wider.
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