TAWA at 45
The Exhibition
Molly Merlino
Young Cellist II
charcoal on paper, ca. 1979; 15.5″h x 18.5″w; Collection of the Trenton City Museum
Molly Merlino (1925-2013) was a prominent advocate for the arts on a local and statewide level. Born and raised in Trenton, she was a graduate of Trenton High School and attended Trenton’s School of Industrial Art and the Moore College of Art, before launching a career as an artist. She worked at Lenox in the late 1940s. Throughout her life Merlino held positions in the arts, including: president of The Friends of the New Jersey State Museum, president of the Trenton City Museum, and, appointed by the governor, member of the New Jersey Council on the Arts. In 1999, she was awarded the Meta Griffith Community Service Award from the YWCA of Trenton, and she received a certificate of appreciation from the New Jersey Federation of Democratic Women in honor of her term as president in 1992-93. She was named to the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998.