Merlyn Chesterman

Merlyn Chesterman is an established printmaker whose career spans more than four decades, earning her international recognition for her distinctive woodcut prints. Based on the North Devon coast, her work is deeply rooted in the natural environment, exploring the movement of the sea, shifting weather, and the wind-shaped forms of trees and grasses.

Working with the inherent texture of the woodblock, Chesterman creates prints that echo the rhythms and patterns of the landscape, expressed through a muted palette that captures both its energy and quietude.

Born in England and raised in Hong Kong, she returned to the UK to study Fine Art at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, before completing a Diploma in Education at the University of Bath. She further developed her practice through printmaking studies in China, including at the Guanlan Print Base in Guangdong Province and the Purple Bamboo Studio in Hangzhou.

Chesterman serves on the Council of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers and has co-authored two publications with Rod Nelson — Making Woodblock Prints and Twenty Concepts in Woodblock Printing (Crowood Press). Her work has been exhibited internationally and is held in collections across Hong Kong and Bhutan, as well as in major UK institutions including the V&A Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, and the Edward James Foundation at West Dean College, Chichester, where she taught for over twenty years.

STUDIO: North Devon, UK