Caroline Mercier
Textiles and Printmaking
March to April 2025
Dr. Caroline Mercier is an award-winning artist, designer, and educator with over 15 years of experience in fashion, performance, and fine arts. She began her career in fashion design, launching her own boutique before transitioning into costume and performance art. A recipient of the prestigious Les Masques award, she has designed for productions such as Les Misérables in New York, Cirque du Soleil, McGill Opera, and renowned directors like Robert Lepage and Douglas Campbell. Her expertise extends to Hollywood and Las Vegas film sets as a makeup artist, including work at the Kodak Theatre in LA. She has also competed in global body painting competitions in Austria and England.
Originally from Quebec, she got her PhD in Fine Arts in England at Northumbria University and is now a full professor at California State University Stanislaus, ranked no.2 in the US Nation for Social Mobility.
Caroline is hoping to create a costume installation on the grounds of Tactile Arts, made of Darwin local and discarded vegetation as well as collected seaweed on the coastline. Fire is the element inspired by the dry season spikes in the Outback. She is interested in seeing, left untouched, how Mother Nature can transform her work through natural decay.