We recently connected with Meredith Nemirov and have shared our conversation below.

Meredith, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

There are two projects that have been the most meaningful to me so I will chose the most recent one.
RIVERS FEED THE TREES; THE MOON MOVES THE TIDES is a one-person show at Milk Moon Gallery in Telluride, CO, that opens on May 15th, 2025.

RIVERS FEED THE TREES is an ongoing series of works on paper, acrylagouache and ink on original historic topographic maps, that I started in the winter of 2021. After the summer of 2020, which saw the largest number of severe wildfires recorded in Colorado’s history, I spent that winter imagining a re-watered landscape that was represented
in the topography of maps of Colorado from over 100 years ago, by painting the color blue in every river, stream, arroyo and creek.

I started showing this work in 2022 and the response has been extremely enthusiastic; articles in publications like Orion Magazine, the MAHB Blog from Stanford University and a completely sold out show! I decided to continue with the series and donate a percentage of future sales to a national non-profit that I had been following and supporting in a small way during the pandemic, American Rivers. The gallery that has represented my work for the past eight years, Milk Moon Gallery in Telluride, was all on board and I approached American Rivers to see if they would like to collaborate by hosting a fundraiser event during the Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride. This was in July 2024 and after much back and forth they were ready to jump right in, especially since they had three films accepted into the Festival.
In addition to the opening taking place as part of the Telluride Arts Artwalk Mountainfilm Edition on May 23rd, there will be a reading of poems about rivers in the gallery on the First Thursday Artwalk, June 5th, with my long-time collaborator, poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. Then we will end with a presentation of the book that was the inspiration for this exhibition, Art Works, How Organizers and Artists are Creating a Better World Together by Ken Grossinger and a book signing for both writers.
I am hoping that this will result in a win-win for all involved, but especially for the health of our rivers that are so vital to the future of the Southwest.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born and raised in New York City by parents who were both artists and passionate about all the city had to offer in terms of culture. I received a BFA from Parsons School of Design in illustration and worked as a freelance illustrator for eleven years. In 1988 my husband and I moved from the city to a small town in southwestern Colorado. We opened the Ridgway Gallery which specialized in antique prints, books and maps about the exploration of the American West.
Little did I know that 25 years later those maps would be an integral part of my latest series of works, RIVERS FEED THE TREES!

After we closed the gallery in 1999 I started to focus on painting the landscape, particularly the tree in the landscape. I spent years painting plein aire, on-site, in the forests and mountains that surrounded my home and studio. I also taught many classes and workshops locally and all over the state of Colorado. In reading about the geology of the land that I was looking at, and at the same time looking at the work of post-modern and contemporary landscape painters like Marsden Hartley, Neil Welliver, Lois Dodd and many more, I began to paint the environment in a more dynamic way, as if it was a verb instead of an adjective. I was mainly an observational painter but at the same time, back in my studio, I was painting works that tried to capture processes in the natural world. For example the series BLOWDOWN which imagines the mycorrhizal network in the subterranean world beneath the forest floor. I suppose I am interested in imagining forces at work in our natural world in a visual way through my drawings and paintings.

The new series brings together both the rivers and trees of the Colorado landscape. And also adds the maps that I fell in love with when we had our gallery. “The map is not the territory” but represents many aspects of it and I really enjoy what I feel is a collaboration with the cartographers who walked my landscape over 100 years ago.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I have recently started to say that I have had the most wonderful life and it is because I have been able to interpret the world around me in a visual way through my drawings and paintings. This keeps me fascinated and grounded in my time here in this moment. I don’t mean to sound “polly anna ish”. It was not always easy, but I have come to appreciate my non-conformist lifestyle.
I enjoyed all the teaching I did because it helped to pay my living expenses but also allowed me to shared my passion for art with a very interested group of people who also became very good friends and supported me by buying my paintings.
The most rewarding aspect has been the freedom from certain obligations and also the intellectual stimulation that comes from my interest in learning about the history of art and other artist’s work.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

By “society” I assume you mean the general public as well as your specific community at large?

How to best support artists?
When you say support, the first thing that comes to mind is financial support. Of course that is important, and selling your work does help, but most artists I know have to find another way to pay the bills, like teaching.

But there is another form of support and it is something that most artists have gotten used to but I think it would mean a lot if people would once in awhile ask the question “How are things going in your studio?” “What are you working on now?”.
I realize that many people don’t think of it, maybe because they wouldn’t know how to keep the conversation going?

A thriving creative ecosystem?
I think Colorado has been doing a good job about supporting local communities through new exhibition spaces available to artists. Also devoting a percentage of new construction projects to public art pieces.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.meredithnemirov.com
• Instagram: meredith.nemirov
• Facebook: Meredith Nemirov
• Other: https://www.milkmoon.art
  https://www.michaelwarrencontemporary.com
  https://www.ohbejoyfulgallery.com