These portraits are intended to recapture the mystique, beauty, and sensuality that once represented the iconic female.  By combining portraiture, drawing, and collage, I am able to use three mediums that I have always enjoyed working with.  Through the evolution of developing this technique, I’ve found a way to express myself artistically that is truly my own.

My work is inspired by fantasy, nature, mythology, and historical paintings as well as erotic postcards and classic pin-up poses.  I intentionally work small to retain the intimate feeling of the vintage postcards.  I have always felt I was born in the wrong time period and I’m very much influenced by the music, art, and fashion of decades past; especially the 1920’s-1950’s.  As the work has evolved I have found a way to literally place myself in these bygone eras and fantasy worlds.

I do rely on some modern technology, such as a digital camera and ink jet printer.  However, I do all of my layouts, color enhancement, trimming, and assemblage by hand.  I use colored inks and pencils, and chalk pastels when I add any color enrichment.  I print my images on transparency paper to create an overlay effect.

Barbara Marie Merlotti was born in Ohio and raised in West Michigan.  She enjoyed drawing as a child and from around the age of nine began to draw the human figure in particular.  After graduating high school she took a semester off and then attended Kendall School of Design in Grand Rapids, MI from 1979-1980.  Finding the curriculum too limiting, she transferred to the Museum School of Fine Arts, Boston.  She earned her BFA from Tufts University’s affiliate program in 1984.  Most of the work she produced while attending the Museum School was done using oils, pastels, and photo collage techniques.  The pieces were primarily focused on figures and portraiture.

Barbara continued to live in Boston and worked for an engineering company doing mechanical and electrical drafting.  In 1986 she moved to the West Coast for a year and then back to the Midwest.  She worked for a large furniture manufacturer and as she slipped farther away from her artistic roots she became increasingly restless.  In 1989 Barbara moved to London for a year with her first husband where she spent most of her days exploring museums and dabbling in drawing and painting. She also had many opportunities for travel and visited Amsterdam, Paris, and Portugal.  The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where she attended the 100 year celebration of van Gogh’s birth, and the Musee d’Orsey in Paris were particular inspirations.   

After moving back to the states and having her son, she completed the graduate art therapy program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and received her MA in 1996.  During this period, Barbara’s art work became very abstract, focusing primarily on overlays of color and shape, using both paint and collage mediums.  She worked as an art therapist in a variety of settings over the next few years.  In 2004 she earned a BS in art education from SIUE during which time she taught art workshops to young children through the Summer Arts program.

Barbara reconnected with her own art work on a new level following a period of intense personal turmoil which led her to explore the current themes of her photo collages. In this recent work, she revisits her love of portraiture and nature by combining realism with a sense of abstraction.  She currently works at the St. Louis Artist’s Guild and resides in Glen Carbon, IL with her son, dog, and cat.