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
Virtual Field Trip: Imagining Freedom
Give your students a world-class museum experience without ever leaving the classroom. Students can explore the Norman Rockwell: Imagining Freedom exhibition through an immersive virtual platform, and teachers can choose from a suite of lessons and activities designed to integrate the experience into classroom curriculum. Each lesson includes a thematic selection of art and objects, questions to spark guided discussion, in-class activities to promote student engagement, and contextual information to deepen learning.
Inspire your students with a virtual field trip!
The Virtual Field Trip is FREE to educators and schools, upon request, with unlimited visits and use. Please fill in the form below to request access.
The Unity Project
The Unity Project is an art and civics initiative of the Norman Rockwell Museum and contemporary illustrators that is dedicated to an inclusive America in which all voices are heard. Inspired by the rich and continuing tradition of American illustration, this project inspires us to consider the integral role that published imagery plays in creating cultural narratives which connect us to our times.
New York Times article explores Freedom of Speech ‘meme’
July 9, 2024—Norman Rockwell’s Freedom of Speech has taken on a new life online, as explored in a recent article in the New York Times.
“Across social media, his work ‘Freedom of Speech’ appears alongside all manner of strong opinions, from the highly serious to the absurd to the esoteric, enshrining itself into the lingua franca of the internet decades after its creator’s death,” the article notes. The painting began to show up in posts on Twitter/X in 2020.
‘New York Cartoons’ Reviews ‘MAD’
Stockbridge, MA – June 25, 2024– MAD Magazine Finally Gets the Curtain Call it Deserves. Growing up, the Usual Gang of Idiots were the demigods in my comedic Pantheon; The show at the Norman Rockwell Museum is a perfectly curated collection of seven decades of their misdeeds.
‘Berkshire Eagle’ Reviews ‘MAD’
Stockbridge– June 20, 2024– It’s an election year, so perennial presidential candidate and MAD magazine cover boy, Alfred E. Neuman, has once again thrown his hat in the proverbial ring. The imp-faced redhead has been a “write-in candidate” every presidential election since 1956, when he rst graced the satirical magazine’s cover with his trademark slogan, “What, Me Worry?” His headquarters of choice this election season? You’ll find him amongst some 250 original illustrations and cartoons, alongside magazine covers and ephemera that make up the exhibition, “What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine,” on view at the Norman Rockwell Museum through Oct. 27.
Norman Rockwell Museum’s Summer Exhibition Goes MAD!
Stockbridge, MA—June 1, 2024—Norman Rockwell Museum’s major summer exhibition, What, Me Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine, will open on Saturday, June 8, and runs through October 27, 2024. More than 250 original illustrations and cartoons from dozens of creators spanning 70 years of MAD Magazine will be on display. The exhibition also includes MAD memorabilia, a digital display of every MAD cover, and other special features.