This Spring at Waterloo Arts: Printmakers Zoe Brester-Pennings and Meryl Engler

This spring, the Waterloo Arts Gallery and Cafe will feature the work of two local printmakers: Zoe Brester-Pennings and Meryl Engler.

In the Main Gallery, Zoe Brester-Pennings will be presenting Buck Soft, the third chapter of her Buck Wilde series of works. Combining elements of printmaking, found object, and the tactility of quilting, this exhibition presents a series of quilted wall hangings that loosely depicts the elusive narrative of Buck Wilde. A former rodeo clown, dairy spokeswoman, and equinophobe, Buck Wilde is a wanderer who has come to roost Cleveland. Come for the art, stay for the fun, leave with a souvenir.

Zoe Brester-Pennings is an interdisciplinary artist making work exploring concepts of beauty, femininity, and humor. Her recent work explores myth through the utilization of a performed persona, Buck Wilde. She has a BFA in studio art from Sonoma State University (2018) and an MFA in printmaking from University of Tennessee, Knoxville (2023).

Also on view in the Waterloo Arts Cafe will be When I Become A Tree, works by Meryl Engler.

From the artist: “When I moved to Akron, Ohio in 2019, I became enamored with a very peculiar tree in the back parking lot of the business next door to where I lived. It really should not have been there, its branches growing every which way straight out of some mystery, possibly poisonous, bush on the ground. But I watched it grow and change with the seasons, the same way I had grown and changed over time, and noted the beauty in its stubborn resilience. And so I chose to memorialize this strange thing, commemorate its life, and in turn, give grace to my own journey. After I moved, I went back to that parking lot and saw the tree removed and was so grateful I had visually captured it when I had the chance. The next time I drove by, I saw the start of new growth in that empty spot, and smiled even more.”

Meryl Engler grew up in Huntington Beach, California, and has lived in many places. She earned her BFA at Syracuse University, where she studied sculpture, printmaking, religious studies and history, and also competed on the women’s rowing team. She attended graduate school at University of Nebraska-Lincoln for her MFA in study studio art with an emphasis in printmaking. Having relocated to Akron, Ohio, Meryl works in large-scale woodcuts; the finished works are multi-layered, physical, subtle and bold.

WATERLOO ARTS
15605 Waterloo Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44110
waterlooarts.org
216.692.9500

EVENTS:

Gallery: Zoe Brester-Pennings: Buck Soft, April 3–May 16 in the Gallery. Opening reception 6-9pm Friday, April 3

Meryl Engler: When I Become A Tree, April 3–May 16 in the Cafe. Opening reception 6-9pm Friday, April 3