In honor of Women’s History Month, the Coral Springs Museum of Art unveiled “Drawing Her In,” an exhibition of works by contemporary artist and Florida native Melissa Herrington on March 8. Herrington is lauded for her abstract investigations of the ever-changing female form in her works. The exhibition will be on view through April 23.
Herrington–who has held residencies at the Hungarian Multicultural Center in Budapest, CAMAC in Marnay sur Seine, and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam–will showcase 18 new pieces that highlight her love of color, shape, and texture. Her large-scale, gestural paintings are built up through layers of paint on canvas and overlaid with graphite, charcoal, and pigment. Often contemplative and evocative, her work seeks to explore the complexities of transformation.
Herrington’s paintings explore concepts of transformation, emergence, and life. She strives to join drawing and painting, each at its most elemental on the surface. Visitors will notice recurring figurative motifs repeat throughout the exhibition. These contoured shapes are often scaled to her own body or surrounding environments, as she wants to tempt the viewer to engage with them. The loosely sketched female form blends into rich and opulent raspberry pinks and aubergine purples, whites and earthy grays, contrasted with undulating lines and marks. Penciled incisions become more delicately defined, near hand smeared blocks of pigment.
In addition to the exhibition, Herrington will host an educational series on Saturday, March 26, from 1-3 p.m., where she will highlight her exploration of color, form, and line through preliminary sketches, behind the-scenes insights, and blind contour line drawing exercises. On Thursday, April 7, from 6-7:30 p.m., Herrington will host a professional development workshop and offer guidance for finding, applying, and participating in residency programs which can have a lasting impact on an artist’s life and practice.
Herrington is currently based in Venice, CA, and has most recently exhibited with CONTEXT Art Miami and the world’s largest public art fair, Cube Art Fair, along with galleries in Palm Beach, Los Angeles, and more.
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