Merryll Saylan

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Merryll Saylan (born 1936) is an American woodturner who helped popularize woodturning and the use of color in wood art. She was one of the first women in the field when she started in the 1970s.

She was born in the Bronx, New York City, and grew up in Los Angeles, where she studied piano and viola. She first attended UCLA after high school but dropped out; she later returned to UCLA after taking classes at Santa Monica City College and studied design. She raised three children while in college.

Saylan began woodturning in the mid-1970s. Early in her career, she turned bowls to pay rent and also made turned and constructed furniture.

In 1982, she and her partner Edward Saylan bought a house in Berkeley and redesigned the workshop there, a project they continued for about three decades.

She came from a background in modern design and chose design as her major during her studies. She has said that woodturning was a male-dominated field when she started.

From the early 1980s, Saylan helped pioneer the use of color in wood art. She also combined materials and added surface textures, making her work stand out in an era when wood art often focused on natural wood finishes. The Jelly Donut (1979) is noted for featuring a red resin segment.

She earned an M.A. in studio art at California State University, Northridge (CSUN).

Saylan joined the American Association of Woodturners (AAW) in 1986 and served as president of its board from 1995 to 1996.

For Art in Embassies, Saylan visited Fiji in February 2004, where she gave workshops and presentations. The U.S. Department of State noted that the visit drew significant media attention in Fiji.

Her life and work are documented by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her pieces are in museums across the United States, including the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, which holds Jelly Donut and Untitled (1998).

As of 2016, Saylan was living and working in Berkeley, California. In 2018, she sold her Berkeley home and moved to Colorado to be closer to her son and grandchildren.