Plopping Houses Places

By Chloe Sullivan
Contributing Writer

Vibrant colors, rolling hills, dreamy landscapes and quaint little houses dominate her art. Earthy green and brown tones mix with bright blues, deep violets and bright yellows. These scenes are reminiscent of earlier times when open space dominated the land and people traveled to the city, the city didn’t travel to them.

This idea of wide open spaces and rolling landscapes serves as an inspiration to artist Mandel Mertz. “You’re going to school to design buildings but half way through it, you decide I don’t want to do this because there’s so much overcrowding,” said Mertz.

As an architecture student at North Dakota State University, Mertz spent hours precisely drawing and measuring every detail on a house. Her artwork served as somewhat of an escape from the rigorous homework schedule.

“I guess in my paintings I like putting these houses in imaginative sceneries where the houses aren’t on top of each other. Here I can do some cool landscaping and plop houses places, so it was kind of a fun contrast to schooling,” said Mertz.

Mertz brings her unique background to the Spirit Room in downtown Fargo, with her exhibit “Heaps of Hues,” starting Aug. 3. The show is somewhat of a first for the recent NDSU graduate.

“This is kind of my first very own show. I’m very excited about it,” said Mertz from inside Atomic Coffee in downtown Fargo. “I’ve had paintings here and at other coffee shops, and I’ve been in other shows but it feels different for some reason.”

Mertz’s exhibit, which will be held in the smaller of the two galleries in the Spirit Room, will feature six to eight mostly oil paintings, all depicting similar landscapes.

The largest of the pieces, which is also the only painting for sale in the exhibit, draws some
inspiration from the Gulf Coast and the current oil disaster. Featuring wavy, blue water and pelicans, the Gulf-inspired painting is a unique piece in the exhibit. “I wanted the one that I am selling for the Gulf to have a theme kind of related to the Gulf,” said Mertz.

The idea came to her after looking through several photographs of the Gulf Coast disaster. “I just got so depressed afterwards,” said Mertz. “I can’t fly down there to volunteer so I thought this could be a cool way to donate some money.”

Her share of the proceeds will all be donated to the National Wildlife Federation. Since the start of the spill the NWF has been working to save the wildlife impacted by the spill.

“I spent awhile looking through them (different organizations) all and that one seemed the most legitimate one. I didn’t want to send it somewhere where it wouldn’t get used,” said Mertz.

“Heaps of Hues” will be on display at the Spirit Room through the end of September.

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

If You Go

What: “Heaps of Hues”
Where: Spirit Room
When: Aug 3 - Sept 30
Info: 701.237.0230