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e r i n m e r r i l l

@emerrillart

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O I L on C A N V A S
Dothan, AL
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Hi! I’m Erin Merrill,

an artist 👩‍🎨
&
5th grade public school math/science teacher 👩‍🏫.

* I began painting seriously in high school BUT out of an abundance of fear 👎, I didn’t pursue a BFA 😬. I graduated with a BA in Communication and minor in Art History (which all serve me now, so it worked out 😁)

* After 2 kids and working for 7 years in the pharmaceutical industry, I went back to school to get a MS in Elementary Education. I also kicked fear to the curb and began painting again.

* 10 years later, I get to combine all of my passions. I care deeply about learning new techniques to further my practice, teaching creative thought processes to my students, and providing access to art education.

Thanks for following along 🩵.

📸 by the magical @bookbrittanywindham by @emerrillart

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2 years ago

And that’s a wrap for Garden Party 🎉🫶.

Gosh, I feel so grateful for all the people in my life that continually show up. Especially @_carolynmerrill_ that came home from Auburn to surprise me at the opening and came home for the closing. The ever lingering regret is that I didn’t take more pics.

🩵 by @emerrillart

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8 days ago

🌹🌺🌸🌷🪻🌻🌼 by @emerrillart

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10 days ago

More flowers for your feed. 🌷

Oil and cold wax on canvas
36x48
Sold by @emerrillart

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20 days ago

Another day at work. by @emerrillart

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23 days ago

Erin Merrill
Garden Party II, 2026
Acrylic on canvas
18”x24”

Garden Party III, 2026
Acrylic on canvas
24”x30”

Garden Party IV, 2026
Acrylic on canvas
18”x24”

*left to right

Garden Party is a solo exhibition by artist Erin Merrill on view at the Bells Gallery from August 27-September 25, 2027. In this body of work, the artist explores the tradition of floral, landscape, and still life painting while pushing the subject beyond the tame confines of a two-dimensional interpretation into a wilder, abstract depiction. Garden Party attempts to show the raw state of nature in its natural setting, and rather than bringing the garden to the canvas, Merrill works to bring the canvas to the garden.

All artworks in the gallery are for sale.

Erin Merrill
Erin Merrill is an artist and educator. While she enjoys creating in all forms, her primary medium is oil on canvas. Merrill earned a BA in Communication and a minor in Art History from Auburn University. Later, she earned an MA in Elementary Education at Troy University in Dothan. She is certified in Alabama to teach the visual arts to PreK to 12th graders. Merrill is a member of the Alabama Arts Education Association and founded the Art in Public Places Junior Board, now serving as the JB Director. by @emerrillart

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24 days ago

I’m working on posting more regularly, which means I have to stop procrastinating when things don’t look perfect.

What I would do differently in this pic: brush my hair, take that AirPod out, and not ask @charlie_mabry to be the photographer… and maybe put on shoes.

But here’s to imperfection in posting 🥂, which means more time for the painting 🎨👩‍🎨. by @emerrillart

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a month ago

Erin Merrill
Garden Party: Undergrowth, 2026
Acrylic on canvas
24”x30”

Garden Party: Overgrowth, 2026
Acrylic on canvas
24”x30”

“My current body of work explores the tension between tamed nature and the wildness that refuses to be contained. I am drawn to the ways we attempt to control the natural world—cutting flowers, pruning plants, shaping gardens, and arranging landscapes to fit within the tidy boundaries we create for ourselves.
Yet nature continually pushes back. Wildflowers and weeds emerge through cracks in sidewalks, climb over fences, and reclaim forgotten corners of human-made spaces. Their persistence feels both quiet and defiant. What we label as a weed can become an unexpected act of beauty and resilience.

Through my work, I explore this contrast between cultivation and abandon, order and chaos, restraint and freedom. I am interested in the moment when nature begins to reclaim what we have constructed, when something deliberately contained begins to grow beyond its boundaries.

The flowers in my work are not simply symbols of beauty. They represent a kind of resistance—the instinct to grow, spread, and exist without asking permission. In placing these forms against or within structures associated with human order, I invite a reconsideration of our relationship with nature and our impulse to control it.

Ultimately, this work is about the beauty of things that refuse to stay where we put them.” by @emerrillart

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a month ago

Special birthday commission 🌺🌷🌸🌼🪻
@cowderymerrill @shaelyn.kennedy by @emerrillart

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a month ago

Erin Merrill
Garden Abstract I, 2026
Mixed media on unstretched canvas
57”x63.5”

Garden Party is a solo exhibition by artist Erin Merrill on view at the Bells Gallery from August 27-September 25, 2027. In this body of work, the artist explores the tradition of floral, landscape, and still life painting while pushing the subject beyond the tame confines of a two-dimensional interpretation into a wilder, abstract depiction. Garden Party attempts to show the raw state of nature in its natural setting, and rather than bringing the garden to the canvas, Merrill works to bring the canvas to the garden. by @emerrillart

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a month ago

“Garden Party” opening reception @thebellsgallery was almost 2 weeks ago and I’m just now posting. In part because I just wanted to sit with it for a bit and process the night and how important it felt without the stress of picking the right music/pictures/words to describe it. And partly because I just immediately moved to the next thing in life. I’m working on both of those 🤪.

So here are my imperfect pictures of a perfect night.
I have a heart full of gratitude for the people that showed up and that Artist is now my full time job title 🎨👩‍🎨. by @emerrillart

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a month ago

Thursday night 🌿🎨✨

@thebellsgallery by @emerrillart

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a month ago