Merlyn Chesterman RE is an accomplished print artist with a career spanning over four decades, gaining worldwide recognition for her breathtaking woodcut prints. Based on the North Devon coast. Her art delves into the natural world, focusing on the sea, waves, weather, and the windblown trees and grasses of her surroundings. Utilising the texture of her wooden blocks, she creates prints that reflect the organic patterns, rhythms, and gentle hues of nature.
Born in England and raised in Hong Kong, Merlyn returned to the UK to pursue her education, earning a BA in Fine Art from Bath Academy of Art, Corsham, and a Dip Ed from Bath University. She expanded her expertise in woodblock printmaking through studies in China, at Guanlan Print Base in Guangdong Province and the Purple Bamboo Studio in Hangzhou.
A member of the Council of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, Merlyn has co-authored two books with Rod Nelson ARE—Making Woodblock Prints and Twenty Concepts in Woodblock Printing, both published by Crowood Press and available at her exhibitions. Her work has been exhibited globally and is held in collections in Hong Kong, Bhutan, and prestigious institutions like the V&A Museum, the Ashmolean Museum, and the Edward James Foundation at West Dean College, Chichester, where she taught in the Short Course Programme for two decades.
