Anna Von Mertens

Anna Von Mertens
As the Stars Go By
August 5 – September 2, 2006
Opening Saturday, August 5th, 6-9pm 

The Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco is delighted to present a solo exhibition by Bay Area artist Anna Von Mertens. The show titled As the Stars Go By, will include large quilts, hand-stitched with star rotation patterns marking pivotal moments in American history. 

The patterns provoke the viewer to consider a duality between the subtlety of the image as well as the violent historical event, which the constellations indicate. The titles of the work illuminate these watershed moments in American history as well as the accompanying shifts in the country’s psyche, such as September 11th, the Battle of Antietam and the Wounded Knee Massacre. As you view the work you begin to contemplate the forging of a relationship between time and space, taking into account the here and now and the unknown possibilities of the future. Von Mertens’ work is captivating as the viewer becomes engrossed by the depth and complexity of the minimal yet vibrant hand-dyed abstract quilts.   
In 2005, Von Mertens’ work was included in the Bay Area Now 4 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. She has also shown work at Bard College in New York, Pasadena Museum of California Art, Berkeley Art Museum, Mills College Art Museum, Lizabeth Oliveria Gallery in Los Angeles, Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco and Southern Exposure also in San Francisco. She has also participated in numerous residencies including those at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire, the San Francisco Arts Education Project and at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California.