Photo of Susan LeRoy Merrill. Courtesy: Daisy Rockwell.
Susan LeRoy Merrill
June 4, 1942 – October 24, 2017
I share with you the passing of Susan LeRoy Merrill, artist, author, vibrant spirit, and mother of trustee Daisy Rockwell. Susan is also survived and cherished by beloved husband Carl Sprague, son Ruslan and daughter Elena, son-in-law, Aaron, granddaughter Serafina, and Rockwell family members. Susan taught us so very much about living, with joy and panache, about dying with dignity and gratitude for a life fully lived, and about letting go with grace. She created her last days this summer as she wished to live, painting, surrounded by friends, family and her beloved Corgis. Her art brought much joy and taught us to look at the natural world around us, the world of animals, and even bugs! Her children’s book, I Live in Stockbridge, still available through the Museum, is a personal walk through a town she loved and where she raised her family. There are many chapters to share about Susan’s life, but none is more beautiful than the eulogy her daughter Daisy wrote below. Our hearts go out to Daisy, Carl, all of Susan’s family and many friends.
~ Laurie Norton Moffatt, Director/CEO, Norman Rockwell Museum
Susan Merrill, “The Swing.” 38.5″ x 27.5″. Acrylic on canvas. ©Susan Merrill.
“When my mother called me in early June and told me she’d been diagnosed with a glioblastoma and only had three months to live, she immediately launched into a description of her plans for her remaining days: most notably, she must complete a series of 12 small paintings of bugs beneficial to gardeners before she died. The tumor had started in the communication section of her brain, but did not affect her ability to paint until the end, and she was able to complete her paintings in record time. As her usual exceptional communication abilities began to deteriorate over the summer, she taught us many precious lessons about embracing life and accepting death. It was a summer of charades, drawings, diagrams and laughter over the amazing-sounding unrecognizable words and sounds that came out of her mouth. Only at the end, when she could no longer write or draw, and nearly all her words were unrecognizable, did she show signs of frustration and sadness. The end came mercifully swiftly, and she died last night in her favorite room of her favorite house, surrounded by beloved humans and corgis in a shower of Bach by a roaring fire. We will all carry with us her color, her humor, her word play and her way of re-inventing the world through the power of creative imagination.
Some of her paintings and prints of her bug series are available at her Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/SusanMerrillPainting. Funds raised will help defray medical and other costs accumulated by her household during this difficult period.” ~ Daisy Rockwell
Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt, and the Four Freedoms
Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms is the first comprehensive traveling exhibition devoted to Norman Rockwell’s iconic depictions of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear.
Hanna-Barbera: Toon-ament of Champions!
A Champion has been crowned!
Congratulations to Scooby-Doo! After a 31-day competition, Scooby was the clear winner against 31 of his peers! Make sure to visit our exhibition HANNA-BARBERA: The Architects of Saturday Morning to see Scooby and the entire cast of characters!
February Vacation Week at NRM
February 17, 18, 20 & 21 | 11 AM – 3 PM
Join our fun and engaging family programs to see how Norman Rockwell and other artists in the Illustrators of Light exhibition on view, used light to tell stories, create emotions, and bring paintings to life. Their artwork captures the magic of electric lighting—something we now take for granted but was once a brand-new wonder!
NRM Presents All for Laughs: The Artists of the Famous Cartoonist Course
Stockbridge, MA, February 6, 2025 – Norman Rockwell Museum is excited to announce the opening of a new exhibition, All for Laughs: The Artists of the Famous Cartoonist Course, on Saturday, March 1, 2025. The exhibition, which will run through June 15, 2025, explores the creative genius behind the Famous Artists Cartoonist Course, an influential mid-century training program that shaped generations of cartoonists and contributed to the golden age of American humor.
The Berkshire Eagle: Readings at Rockwell
STOCKBRIDGE — Readings at Rockwell, a new literary series highlighting the power of the written word through dramatic readings, will feature the works of three iconic American authors: Shirley Jackson, Toni Morrison, and Edith Wharton. The literary series, a new partnership between the Norman Rockwell Museum and The Mount, will take place the first Wednesday of each month from March through May, in the museum's galleries. The series, curated by The Mount’s Director of Public Programming Sarah Margolis-Pineo, aligns with Anita Kunz's "Original Sisters: Portraits of Tenacity and Courage."
NRM and The Mount Announce Readings at Rockwell
Stockbridge, MA – January 22, 2025 – The Norman Rockwell Museum is partnering with The Mount, Edith Wharton’s Home to present Readings at Rockwell, a new literary series that highlights the power of the written word through dramatic readings of stories by three iconic American authors: Shirley Jackson, Toni Morrison, and Edith Wharton. These intimate performances, held on the first Wednesday of each month from March through May 2025, will take place in the Museum's galleries. The series, curated by The Mount’s Director of Public Programming Sarah Margolis-Pineo, aligns with Original Sisters: Portraits of Tenacity and Courage, an exhibition by renowned illustrator Anita Kunz that reveals and honors the legacy of 285 trailblazing women, both past and present.
The Boston Globe reviews “Original Sisters”
Today “Original Sisters’’ feels urgent. It’s a heartening tether between untold histories and a threatening future. As a woman standing in Kunz’s hall of sisters, I felt a knot inside me loosen. Look who we are, I thought. Look what we can do...
Times Union reviews NRM’s Virtual Field Trip
When the Norman Rockwell Museum sent its “Imagining Freedom” exhibition on its international tour in 2018, something unusual accompanied artist Norman Rockwell’s famous Civil Rights images: a virtual reality experience. By sliding on headsets, 50,000 adventurous — and mostly younger — visitors connected “with almost every object in the exhibition through virtual reality,” said Rich Bradway, the museum’s digital innovation officer, and they interacted with how the art “connected to the culture and society.”