Merle Zirkle standing with “Facets of Elizabeth” sculpture in Buckley Courtyard.
The artwork of Mayflower Community resident, Merle Zirkle, will be on special exhibit at the Grinnell Arts Center beginning Thursday, November 8th and lasting until December 20th. Entitled “Merle & Glen Zirkle Retrospective Exhibit,” the show will include sculptures, carvings, and ceramics in walnut, redwood, steel, and limestone created by Merle and her late husband Glen. Both were art professors at Grinnell College beginning in 1961.
The show was announced in the November 5th edition of the “Grinnell Herald-Register.”
Merle moved to a Mayflower Harwich Terrace home in 2001 and from there to a Buckley building apartment in August 2018. Working with Mayflower resident and free-lance artist, Netia Worley, the two women comprise the Mayflower Art Committee with responsibility for the artwork in independent living common areas. As a result, Mayflower has a number of “mini-art galleries” all around campus.”
In 2009, Merle was engaged by the daughters of Elizabeth Ernst to sculpt a metal piece in tribute to Elizabeth who died in 2007. She had lived at Mayflower for 35 years, the longest period of residency of any resident in our history. “Facets of Elizabeth” stands majestically in the Buckley Courtyard just outside the Buckley Dining Room glass doors.
— Bob Mann, Sales & Marketing Director
