Melissa Herrington is a contemporary abstract artist currently living and working in Los Angeles, California. She has called Southern California home since 2005 where she received her MFA from Otis College of Art and Design. Prior to that, she spent most of her early career in Atlanta, Georgia and has a BFA from Florida State University. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally. Her works are represented by multiple prestigious galleries.
My aim is to create abstract paintings that are contemplative and evocative. The organic quality of my textured marks lends an ephemeral feeling, images imply fluidity. This “unfinished” surface represents an unfolding of possibility. I use the transparent stains and the opaqueness of color. My work examines the theme of transformation.
“Floating colors and unsteady shapes, fluid movements through layers that linger above a cauldron of speckled sea; like a wave, objects appear in flux, layer upon layer, melding together, creating something new.”
In the studio I work on many pieces at once and so my studio wall is always full of paintings. The works are constantly shifted around, being placed and reordered. I see this wall as an developing story, a set of possibilities.
My paintings are representative of my path, which is inspired by adventure and independence, and my love of color and texture. For me travel is a major catalyst for my evolving themes and artistic practice. I am exploring spontaneous, gestural marks and subtle female forms through abstraction. In all my works color and shape are both organic and intuitive and feminine.
Exhibitions
2016 // Solo Show, Ireland,
Chicago Art Source, Chicago, Illinois
2016 // Solo Show, Soren Christensen Gallery,
New Orleans, Louisiana
2104 // Solo Exhibition, Daughter of the Wind,
Los Angeles, California
2013 // Solo Show, And the Flame Stitches that Empty Chasm Shut, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho
2012 // Solo Show, Ashes To Honey, M Herrington Gallery,
Los Angeles, California
2012 // Solo Show, Reveille, Soren Christensen Gallery,
New Orleans, Louisiana
2010 // Solo Show, HANDless, Gallery DeNovo,
Sun Valley, Idaho
2010 // Veiled Vision, Gallery DeNovo, ArtChicago, Chicago, Illinois
2009 // Solo Show, Little Girls in Pretty Boxes, Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
2008 // Solo Show, Lighght, Gallery DeNovo,
Sun Valley, Idaho
2008 // Solo Show, Echoes of Sight, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, California
2007 // Solo Show, New Paintings, Fay Gold Gallery,
Atlanta, Georgia
2007 // Shadow Memories, Gallery DeNovo,
Sun Valley, Idaho
2006 // Solo Show, Soul Sessions, Gallery DeNovo, Sun Valley, Idaho
2005 // Solo Show, Long Shadows, Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta
2004 // Gifts of Passage, Gallery DeNovo,
Sun Valley, Idaho
2004 // Solo Show, Travel Stains, Association for Visual Artist, Chattanooga, Tennessee
2004 // Solo Show, Sleep Stories With Separate Spheres,
Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
2002 // Solo Show, Budapest and Beyond, ArtFarm,
Atlanta, Georgia
2002 // Solo Show, New Works, Delta Technology Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Curriculum Vitae
Present- 2002 Artist // Melissa Herrington Art
Professional Full Time Artist
2012 M. Herrington Gallery, Venice CA,
Owner/Director
1997-2002 Vermilion Art Gallery, Atlanta, GA
1997- Internship // Museum of Fine Arts, Florida
State University, Tallahassee Florida
1996- Internship // Museum of Fine Arts, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida
Artist in Residency
2016 Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts, Rabun Gap, Georgia
2015 Cill Rialaig Residency, County Kerry Ireland
2012 LaSallian International Residency,
Tuscany, Italy
2010 CAMAC, Marnay sur Seine, France
2009 Sandberg Institute Fellowship,
Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, Holland
2006 Idyllwild center for the Arts, Paintings Edge Residency, Idyllwild, California
2014-2001 Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts, Rabun Gap, Georgia
2002 Hungarian Multicultural Center, Budapest, Hungary
Education
2008, Otis College of Art and Design
Los Angeles, California MFA Studio Art
1997, Florida State University
Tallahassee, Florida BFA Studio Art
Honors, Minor in Art History
Bibliography
2015 Anthropologie Feature
2013 Wall Street Journal March 8, 2013
2010 HANDless, Review Katie Schultz August
2010 The Yellow House, Book Cover author Robin Behn
2008 Where are the women? Review: Sabina Dana Plasse August 13, 2008
2005 Atlanta Journal Constitution, Review: Jerry Cullum L-3 April 17, 2005
2004 Chattanooga Times, Review: Ann Nichols D-6 September 19, 2004
2004 Atlanta Magazine pg 107 May 2004
