Meryl Diane Taradash

Meryl Diane Taradash passed away on March 7, 2024 after a brief illness.

Meryl Taradash was an award winning kinetic sculptor. She was one of few women whose works made use of wind and light in their design. Her sculpture "Sisyphus" recently overlooked the Grand Canal in Venice as part of the European Cultural Centre's 2022 Biennial. This exhibition was a culmination of her 30 years of work uniting movement, light and nature

Taradash is survived by her husband and partner, Wayne P. LaPierre; her son, Jeffrey D. Koch and his wife Rachel, her sister Lauree Dash and her granddaughter, Cora Joy.

She was fascinated by capturing the light on mountains and its reflected shadows and the energy of the wind sweeping through trees. Inspired by the ever- changing natural environment, she sculpted the movement of reflected wind and light in her work.

Taradash was interested in creating public art because she believed it affects people in subtle and unexpected ways. Taking her work outdoors into the natural environment progressed to working with metals as linear forms growing from the earth.

Since receiving her first public art commission ("Light Dance," Camden, NJ), a 42ft. high suspended installation at a medical school, her work has been commissioned for a variety of public settings, and performing arts centers, parks and civic centers. While creating "Light Dance," she learned how colored Lucite moving forms could transport light into an atrium. Several of her Lucite forms and suspended installations can be seen at Philadelphia's Aramark Corp., the University of Virginia in Charlottesville's School of Nursing and the Music Center at Strathmore, North Bethesda, MD where the installation was 4-stories high and spans an area of over a 96ft. in length.

Taradash began taking her work into the natural environment with support from the David Bermant Foundation, which included opportunities for outdoor shows at parks and museums. After creating "Wind Dancing" with Wayne P. LaPierre, her fabricator for Bermant's site in front of the University of California's Art Museum in Santa Barbara, the Michener Art Museum offered her a solo exhibition. The prestigious Elaine Benson Gallery of Bridgehampton invited Taradash to show "Wind Dancing," and gave her a solo show in their courtyard. The Nobel Laureate, Dr. James Watson purchased her work "Getting There" for his Cold Spring Harbor Labs exhibition, Sculpture by the Sea.

Taradash's sculptures were forever changed when she visited world-renown sculptor George Rickey. Because of his insights into kinetic movement, and willingness to share his many references, her work as an artist blossomed and expanded. One of her award-winning pieces, a tribute to Rickey's generosity, earned her first prize from the Kinetic Artists Organization and that was followed by an invitation to participate in a group exhibit Whirlwind: Art in Motion at Overland Park Arboretum in KS.

Growing up in Clifton, NJ, she always knew she wanted to study art. After attending Connecticut College, it was the summer she spent at Banff School of Fine Arts, amongst a community of visual and performing artists in the Canadian Rockies that proved to be truly transformational for the young artist. Taradash made art 24/7- painting watercolors of the mountains, carving balsa for Japanese wood cuts and drawing the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's rehearsals. The following spring, she began her studies of painting and drawing at Pratt Art Institute where she completed her BFA, and then went on to receive her MFA degree, and was awarded Assistantships and a prestigious Ford Foundation Grant.

Taradash was invited to the opening of Grounds For Sculpture and the International Sculpture Center. The organization published her first commissions and reviewed her work in Sculpture Magazine as well as supported the "Caged Bird Dances II" being permanently installed along the river walk of the sculpture park.

Taradash is survived by her husband and longtime creative partner Wayne LaPierre, her son, accomplished bass player Jeffrey Koch, daughter-in law Rachel Rothberg Koch, granddaughter Cora Joy Koch, and her sister Lauree Dash and brother in law Ford Austin.