Material Influence: Michelle Droll + Patty Meriam

UNDERSTORY, an artist-run gallery committed to championing new and emerging voices, presents Material Influence, opening April 16, 2025, in conjunction with Earth Day. This timely exhibition features the work of Michelle Droll and Patty Meriam, offering a compelling examination of our complex relationship with materials.

Every day, we make choices about raw materials—in the items we purchase and the objects we discard. From the fleeting life of single-use plastics to the endless loop of recyclable aluminum, materials shape our world and our values. Material Influence invites us to reconsider the role of raw materials: their environmental impact, economic entanglements, and symbolic weight in our lives.
Patty Meriam interrogates the intersection of consumerism, social systems, and environmental futures. Through her photographs and two-channel video ticker tapes, she asks: How do our spending habits and the systems we uphold reflect our values? Her work confronts the mechanisms of overconsumption and profiteering, challenging us to think critically about our personal and collective investments.

Michelle Droll transforms discarded and overlooked materials into intricate, mixed-media compositions. Her practice embraces sustainability and creative reuse, revealing beauty in the broken. Each work becomes a meditation on resilience—where the fractured and forgotten are reimagined into something vibrant, renewed, and full of potential.

UNDERSTORY is focused on exhibiting interdisciplinary and conceptual work by regional and emerging artists and promoting experimental art, creative dialogue, and community engagement.

Join us for the opening reception of Material Influence: Michelle Droll and Patty Meriam on Wednesday, April 16, from 5-8 pm at UNDERSTORY, located on the RAMP (lower level) at 78th Street Studios in Cleveland.

Opening reception:
April 16th, 5-8pm, 2025

Exhibition:
April 16-May 24, 2025