Couples capture artist's inspiration, creativity
BY TALI ISRAELI
Correspondent

"The After Snuggle" by artist Merelee Syron of New Egypt will be on display at the Garden Pier in Atlantic City from July 1 through Aug. 26.

PLUMSTED - The image of two figures interacting is what inspires Merelee Syron to create sculptures of couples.

After home-schooling her four children, Syron, 37, of the New Egypt section of Plumsted, returned to college to become a high school art teacher. During one of her classes at Georgian Court University, Lakewood, she discovered her love of sculpting.

"I wish I had experienced [sculpting] much earlier than I did. For me it just came naturally. I didn't know I had the ability until I took this class," she said.

An oil painter since high school, Syron said she enjoys working with clay because it is easier to manipulate than paint.

"I really liked working with a three-dimensional form," she added.

Syron, who mostly sculpts figurative forms, said she has recently been exploring a couples theme for her pieces. The artist said her inspiration has come from advertisements in magazines or even from watching couples figure skating.

Merelee Syron works on a new sculpture in her studio.

"It got stuck in my mind, this image of her [the skater] coming off his shoulders," Syron said about the ice skaters. "It could be anything, I could be at the beach and it sparks an idea."

When asked what it is about the couples that makes her want to sculpt them, Syron said, "There may be interesting angles or asymmetry. The image becomes etched in my mind and it torments me until I do something with it."

Syron, who is currently working on several different pieces, said it usually takes her about 40 hours over a one-month period to complete a sculpture. She uses non-drying plastelina, an oil-based clay that never dries. In order to create a lasting piece, Syron said a mold of the sculpture has to be made.

Syron currently participates in a group sculpture class on Saturdays. She said she usually starts the piece herself with an idea she has in her head and then uses the live models the class hires on the weekends for specifics such as anatomy.

Due to the type of clay she uses, Syron said she is able to take the piece apart several times before getting it exactly right.

"If it doesn't look right I'm not going to finish it. I can see in my mind what it's going to look like," she said.

The artist has shown her work at the Belmar Arts Council in April and in February at the Guild of Creative Arts in Shrewsbury.

Her latest piece will be shown with the Philadelphia Sculpture Society at the Garden Pier in Atlantic City from July 1 through Aug. 26.

The sculpture, "The After Snuggle," shows a couple lying down with the woman's head on the man's shoulder.

Syron said the sculpture was first made about 12 inches long, but she liked the piece so much that she tripled the size to create a 36-inch-long sculpture. Her goal is to one day make a life-sized public sculpture.