The William Merrill Gallery has reopened at 2950 South Coast Highway in South Laguna after roughly a decade without a physical storefront. Established in 1992 and owned by Bill Merrill, the gallery is showing work by 17 international artists and providing studio space for three resident artists. It is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with additional visits available by appointment, according to the Los Angeles Times Daily Pilot.
A new use for the South Laguna property
The location became available after Merrill sold the Black Iris floral and giftware business in January while retaining the property, the Daily Pilot reported. Black Iris, which had operated for 43 years, now works under owner Carole Agar as a customized floral-design service without a conventional retail storefront, according to Black Iris. Merrill’s gallery had previously operated farther downtown in Laguna Beach before moving online.
Artists working alongside the exhibition
The gallery combines exhibition space with working studios, allowing visitors to view contemporary work in different mediums while artists work on site, the Daily Pilot reported. Paul Ecke, who has exhibited with the gallery since its early years, is one of the three resident artists. San Clemente artist Esther Montagner, who also works under the name Glina, is another; Loree Werner is the third. Montagner’s Puzzled oil-painting series is displayed at the gallery.
A local gallery tradition, in broader context
The reopening follows a much longer history of organized art activity in Laguna Beach. Laguna Art Museum records that the Laguna Beach Art Association opened a custom-built gallery in 1929 after a fundraising drive, a predecessor institution’s development distinct from Merrill’s current South Laguna location. Separately, the California Arts Council cites a study prepared before the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts dissolved in 2010 that found nonprofit arts organizations contributed nearly $500 million to the Orange County economy; that figure applies to nonprofit arts organizations broadly, not to the William Merrill Gallery.
National participation data offers a separate benchmark for understanding the role of physical arts venues. According to the National Endowment for the Arts’ 2022 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, 52% of U.S. adults personally created or performed art and 48% attended arts events in person during the measured 12-month period. The report said overall arts attendance had dropped nearly six percentage points from 2017 to 2022, so Merrill’s reopening is a local example of renewed physical access rather than evidence of a broader national recovery.
Ecke’s biography identifies him as a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, and says he taught art in California public schools for a decade before focusing on painting full time in 1985. The biography also lists museum collections in Manila and Sacramento, according to Markowicz Fine Art. Artsy describes Ecke’s practice as mixed-media work built through layered paint and scraping techniques, according to Artsy.
Community programming and access
Ten percent of artwork-sale proceeds are designated for the American Cancer Society, according to Ecke’s comments reported by the Daily Pilot. Merrill plans to use an upper-level area for additional exhibitions and receptions. Werner, a former El Modena High School art teacher who previously brought students to the gallery, told the Daily Pilot that galleries can serve educational and community purposes as well as commercial ones…