Location: American Boulevard Station
Title: Midas Fence
Artist: Deborah Mersky
Material: 1/8" steel plate
One-hundred ten panels of laser cut and anodized 1/8" steel plate with etched bronze overlays.
The imagery on the 220 running feet of weathering steel panels with etched bronze overlays is loosely based on the myth of Midas, a king who, receiving one wish, requested that everything he touched turned to gold. He soon could not eat or drink or be with the ones he loved because everything he touched turned to gold. He regretted his wish and had to request a wish reversal. In the Midas Fence are images of local flora and fauna intertwined with abstracted strands of beads and jewels. The plants and birds are all Minnesota natives, chosen for their beauty and their treasure-related names. Among them are jewel weed, zigzag goldenrod, pearly everlasting, golden eye duck and the gold finch. The imagery is overlaid with bronze etched with articles from the New York Times’ describing the fall of Lehman Brothers and subsequent financial collapse of 2008. The art panels are a musing on the riches of nature versus the riches of man.
Zigzag Goldenrod
Deborah Mersky, a Blanco County, Texas artist, is both a studio artist and a designer in the field of public art.
Her creations in both realms, are born from the overlap of nature and human habitation, which she views as a “delicate, and off kilter moment.”
In the studio, in addition to drawing and painting, Mersky uses a clay printing technique where she carves the surface of a clay slab, then prints it with oil based inks. Her work has been shown nationally in galleries and is in collections as diverse as MICROSOFT and the Fundacion Altos de Chavon in the Dominican Republic. In public spaces, she has created pieces for libraries, hospitals, parks, light rail and public utility facilities in Washington, Oregon, California, Minnesota and Texas.
Mersky was awarded the Jentel Residency, Sheriden, Wyoming, and she is the Founder/Teacher of Art Test, San Antonio, Texas, where she was awarded for her work as 2016 Art Educator of the Year, by the McNay Art Museum San Antonio.
Bract- Scattered Bouquet, University Health Systems, San Antonio, Texas - 2014
The Metro Transit Public Art Collection consists of approximately 70 works by 27 different artists. Here are some facts about the collection.
Artist Janet Zweig has work at the most light-rail stations (seven). Her Small Kindnesses, Weather Permitting interactive audio and video boxes, can be found at Nicollet Mall, Government Plaza, US Bank Stadium, Franklin, Lake Street, 46th Street and Fort Snelling stations
Deborah Mersky has created public art at the second most light-rail stations. Her laser-cut fences and images can be found at:
There are only two artists with work on both the Blue Line and Green Line: Janet Lofquist and JoAnn Verburg.
You can find Lofquist’s public art at:
VA Medical Center Station (Blue Line)
10th Street Station (Green Line)
Robert Street Station (Green Line)
Prospect Park Station (Green Line)
You can find JoAnn Verburg’s glass art at:
Bloomington Central Station (Blue Line)
46th Street Station (Blue Line)
Lake Street/Midtown Station (Blue Line)
