TENANTS HARBOR — On November 25, 2024, Ann Marie “Otty” Merrill passed away peacefully at home with her husband and son by her side. She had been fighting cancer for the past 18 months. She had an amazingly strong zest for life, family, friends, and creativity and was always reaching out for new adventures and experiences.

Otty’s own words, taken from an interview with a friend, Camille Davidson: “I grew up in New Jersey and worked in New York City until I married and moved to New England. While raising children in the 70s and 80s, I ran a small pottery business, taught classes and co-founded The Sherborn Arts Center near Boston. I became a licensed real estate broker and owned my own company, ‘Classic Properties’, in Amherst, New Hampshire where I employed 4 brokers. I enjoy architecture, historic preservation and interior design. The motto of my company was “We specialize in antique and unique homes!” and we did! I retired in 1998 and devoted my time to becoming a full-time artist, mainly printmaking and clay sculpture. After a move to Falmouth Maine, I rented studio space in nearby Portland, with 55+ artists in a cooperative called ‘Running with Scissors’.

I have put in many hours taking workshops from Santa Fe to Provincetown. I put aside printmaking and ceramics, two big loves, and began to explore and teach myself more and more about how this medium can be used, yet find I gravitate back to those mediums, even in my encaustic work. I have taken many classes at Haystack, Maine College of Art and the Museum School in Boston. I love working in 3-D with hot and cold wax, using fiber clay for sculptures and assemblage materials.

I must say, that traveling, particularly to Europe, is a great inspiration also. My husband and I have taken many cycling trips throughout Europe and I always come back loaded with themes and potential paintings. Our last biking trip was to Sicily last year, and I’m still translating images from there onto my panels!

Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Big Magic was profoundly motivating and enlightening and has forever recast my attitude about who I am as an artist and why I make art. I would recommend it to any artist who lets doubt creep in and we all do! It is a book for any one asking themselves 'Why make art'…and isn’t that all of us at one time or another? Here is a quote from her book that I hold dear to my heart and explains, more than anything else, who I am and why I do what I do: 'Possessing a creative mind, after all, is something like having a border collie for a pet: it needs to work, or else it will cause you an outrageous amount of trouble. Give your mind a job to do, or else it will find a job to do, and you might not like the job it invents (eating the couch, digging a hole through the living room floor, biting the mailman, etc.) If I am not actively creating something, then I am probably destroying something (myself, a relationship or my own peace of mind).'

I am survived by a loving husband of 54 years; two cats and two sons: Tyler of Golden, Colorado, and Whitney of Kansas City, Missouri. I also leave Suzanne, Tyler’s wife, and their two children, Edwyn and Emilia.

"I also leave many cousins who are very dear to me: Eileen McNair, Mary Gerans, Lorraine Deaton, Nancy Benson, Carol Stanley, Tom Kenison, John Kenison, Tracy Ludlum, Roger Mozda, and Mickey Mozda. I am predeceased by my brother, Frank Jackowski, My mother Florence Gaeta, and my step father Albert Gaeta. The Lord willing, I will see them soon.”

A celebration of Otty’s life will be held on Saturday, June 7, 2025, at 11 a.m., at the Tenants Harbor Baptist Church.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Sussman House, 40 Anchor Drive, Rockport, ME 04856 or visit their website at mainehealthcareathome.org or call the Development Office at 800-660-4867.

Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland. To share a memory or condolence with the Merrill family, please visit their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.