First Friday at Columbia Arts

We hope you’ll join us at Columbia Arts on First Friday, November 3rd from 5-7pm.
You’ll be delighted to view the work of Abigail Merickel in the ‘Lobby for Local Art’ and see the new work that has been added to the show, by Carmen Sonnes, in the main gallery.
Stop by, say hi, have a glass of wine and enjoy!

Spirit of Place: Oregon and Oaxaca, Mexico
Abigail Merickel was raised in the rural Midwest. She studied art and foreign languages in Seville, Spain, Venice, Italy and London, England acquiring her B.A. in Spanish and English (University of Colorado-Boulder, 1981), B.F.A. in Painting (Accademia di Belli Arti-Venezia, 1989), M.A. in Teaching (George Fox University, Oregon 2006).
She teaches art at Columbia Gorge Community College, lives in both Oregon and Oaxaca, Mexico. As a printmaker she experiments with monotype, collagraph, relief, intaglio and lithography.
Her creative process relies on the intuitive, informed by her senses, surroundings and experiences. A sense of adventure spurs her exploration into divergent themes— from identity and place to the mystical, earthiness to the divine.
The allure of colorful birds, the vigor of animals, the radiant power of ascendant women and the generative forces of Earth inform her work. Working from memory and emotion, she captures her yearning, full of nostalgia, reverie and not least of all, joy. Her work is exhibited nationally and internationally.