Member of Flag since:
2020
Abby’s Bio:
This northeast Florida self-taught artist developed a love of place and an appreciation for natural wonders with some inspiration from an adventurous travel agent mother, a creative DIY father and an artist babysitter.
Abby received her B.A. from the School of International Service at The American University with a minor in Environmental Studies specializing in marine biology, limnology and law of the sea and interned for the International Institute for Environment and Development. Her perspective and subject matter continued to develop during a professional career addressing hazardous waste with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; consulting for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Everglades restoration; launching the University of North Florida Environmental Center; educating youth and adults on the St. Johns River with SJRWMD; and assisting the North Florida Land Trust preserving special places for generations.
Art commissions began in her teens for doctors’ offices and retailing Victorian Christmas ornaments. In College, she went on to create an illustrated guide of Turks & Caicos dune plants and scenic stage designs for drama productions. While a banking executive, she applied her craft to customer and associate themed events and provided graphics for non-profits like the Sunshine Foundation Dream Village, where her themed murals are still being enjoyed by chronically and terminally ill children’s families visiting Orlando theme parks. She is a facilitator for Timucuan Parks AARP series “Healthy Living-Art in the Park”, and volunteered in art elementary classrooms as well as leading high school theatrical scenic design.
Her paintings began receiving regional awards in the 1990s and she is now an artist full-time. Her first solo show was for the famed “Will Ackerman; Guitar Gathering” and she has been a featured artist at local galleries and southeast regional plein air events and donated artwork to the North Florida Land Trust and Mandarin Art Festival.
Abby is a past board member of First Coast Plein Air Painters and the Jacksonville Coalition of Visual Arts; and is also a current member of Jacksonville Urban Sketchers, Oil Painters of America, Jacksonville Artist Guild , Pines & Palms; and regularly exhibits at the St. Augustine Art Association galleries.
Appointed by the Mayor of Jacksonville, Abby has represented her community on the Southeast Community Planning Advisory Committee for a decade, participating on the JAX2020 Neighborhoods Committee and One x One Education initiative. She is a past board member for the Lake Alfred Chamber of Commerce, Explorations V Children’s Museum, Greater Winter Haven Meals on Wheels and the Riverside Fine Arts Association.
Artist Statement:
Since seeing Monet’s paintings, during a trip to Europe at age 10, I have been enthused by the combinations of bits of pure color and how light changes form, texture and reflections and how each landscape is unique. During my professional career and as a champion of the environment, art is an extension of my advocacy for the importance of stewardship and seeks to inspire the viewer to explore and appreciate wild or iconic places with new eyes. Always hopeful that my piece triggers a memory or your own sense of place and a bigger connection to the importance and connectivity of the natural world or the place you call “home”.
This mission seems become more critical as Earth’s resources are challenged by global warming, pollution and pressure from overdevelopment, especially in Florida. Our human spirit craves fresh clean air, open space, seasonal changes and that bit of adventure.
Working primarily in oil or acrylic, seascapes, skyscapes and forests are inspired by my northeast Florida home and travels. From there, I enjoy playing up mother nature’s palette visible to my eye, but often elusive in a photograph. Each tree has a unique character and no two sunsets are ever the same.
Working in plein air has taught me to appreciate fleeting moments of light and shadow and to appreciate variation of the simplest details. Do you recall the joyous feeling of discovering a rainbow splaying colors across the sky, a canopy of leaves backlit by the sun like stained glass… or standing atop a mountain and seeing landscapes meld into soft pastels in the distance?
The sound of pounding ocean waves or the breeze through the trees always soothe my soul. Clouds can be as meditative as their colors change in an almost spiritual way. I especially enjoy capturing children by the water’s edge, with the same fascination I still have, and hope we all can find again.
Exhibitions & Awards:
Reinert Fine Art Gallery: Oil Painters of America National “Wet Paint”- Charleston, SC (2023)
St. Augustine Art Association: “Reflections” (2024); “Art Galleries of St. Augustine” BROCHURE COVER ARTIST (2023-2024); “Art Meets History-Plein Air” (AWARDs 2023 & 2021, 2017-2023); “Here & There” (2023); “Honors” (2017-2023); “Mix It Up” (2023); “Fall Members” AWARD (2022); “Monochrome” (2022); “Florida Wild” AWARD (2021); “Finding Peace” AWARD (2021); “Great Outdoors” (2021); “Miniature Marvels” (2017-2024); “Faces & Figures” (2021-2024, 2018); “This is My World” (2020); “Soak Up Summer” (2020-2023); “Canvas, Clay, Collage and Cutting Edge” (2020, AWARD 2017); “Black & White & Shades of Grey” (2019); “Fantastic Florida” (2018-2024, AWARD 2016)
First Coast Plein Air Painters: “We Breathe Plein Air” – Thrasher Horne (2024); “Summer Memories”– PASTA Gallery- St Augustine (2023); “Ship to Shore” (2023) and “Brushstrokes of Light” (2022)- Clay County Courthouse; “Moments in Plein Air” (2023). “Fresh Looks” JCA (2021); “From River to Ocean” – St Johns Rotunda (2022-2023); “Brush with Nature” – Arboretum (People’s Choice AWARDs 2023 & 2022; 2018-2024); “Sky’s the Limit” – Melrose Hall AWARD (2022); “Let Me Take You There” – Turner Center (2022); “Scene Through Our Eyes” – Thrasher Horne AWARD (2021); “La Primavera” – STAA (2021); “Light in the Landscape” – JCA (2019); “Impressions of the Southeast” – Cultural Center of Ponte Vedra Beach (2019); FSCJ-Wilson Center (2018)
Florida Artists Group: “74th Symposium-Art Max” – FSCJ Wilson Center (2024) – Jacksonville, FL; “73rd Symposium- Art Rally” – Museum of Arts & Sciences – Daytona, FL (2023); “Judges Choice” – Turner Center for Art -Valdosta, GA (2022); “Area 6 @ FSCJ” – FSCJ-Wilson Center Jacksonville, FL (2022); “72nd Symposium” AWARD (2022); “71st Symposium” – Dunedin Fine Arts (2021)
Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts: “Regional Artist Community” (2021-2023); “Spring into Art” (2021-2023); “Artoberfest” (AWARD 2022; AWARD 2020); “Doing Well, Thank You” – Valdosta, GA (2020)
Pines & Palms: “Bloom into Art” (2023-2024); “High Cotton” – Thomasville/Boston, GA (AWARD 2020, 2019-2024); “Fall for Art” – Thomasville, GA (2020-2022)
Coastal Camden Art League: “Plein Air” AWARDs (2021-2024); solo show (2024)- St. Mary’s, GA;
Jacksonville Artist Guild: “I See a Pattern Here” – Northpoint Dental (2024); “Riverside Avondale Preservation (RAP) Tour of Homes – Art House” (2022-2024); ”Where We Live” – Clay Co. Courthouse AWARD (2023); “Out and About” – JCA (2023); “Summer Delights” (2023); “Wild Thing” (2023), “Spring” (2022) – ART Coop; “What’s on Your Table?” (2023); “Our Florida” & “Jax200”- Main Library/Nordstrom (2022); “A Few Quiet Moments” – PVB Presbyterian (2021); “Art-I-Facts” – JAX Airport Sky Gallery (2021); “Sunshine in the South”- JCA (2021)
FemArt: “Members” (2023); “Hair” (2023), “Joy” (2022) – The Nest Coworking – Jacksonville, FL; “Art with Heart” – Adele Grage (2022) – Atlantic Beach, FL
Women Writing for (a) Change: “Justice for All” Anthology and Exhibition (2023/4); “Oceans” Anthology and Exhibition (2022); “Rivers” (2021)
Jacksonville Coalition of Visual Arts: “Florida Living” – Trends AWARD (2021); “Melting Winter” – JCA (2021); “Celebration” CCPVB – AWARD (2019)
Hofwyl-Broadfield Plantation: “Albert’s Plein Air Affair” and touring exhibit (2021-2024) – southeast Georgia
Cummer Museum: live painting “20th North Florida Land Trust Gala” – Jacksonville, FL (2020)
Word Revolt: “Elemental” (2021); “Arboretum” – Atlantic Beach, FL (2020)
Riverside Fine Arts Association: solo show “A Sense of Place” – Jacksonville, FL (2018)
Other Galleries & Exhibitions: Florida Native Plants Exhibition (2024); Wekiva Paint Out “Quick Draw” – Longwood, FL (2022-2024); La Venture Grove gallery– Switzerland, FL; J Gregory Fine Art- Jacksonville, FL; Joseph’s Fine Art – St. Augustine, FL; W.B. Tatter Gallery – St. Augustine, FL; PVB Presbyterian Church Bethel Gallery – Ponte Vedra Beach, FL;
Stanton College Prep H.S.: theatre scenic design (2014-2019)
Timucuan Parks Foundation: “Art in Park” instructor (2019-2024); Timucuan mural (2011)
St. Johns River Water Management District: water conservation poster (2005)
Sunshine Foundation: Dream Village murals & graphics for chronically and terminally ill children’s families – Loughman, FL (1995-2015)
Ridge Art Association: juried exhibition – Winter Haven, FL AWARD (1996)
Polk State College: regional invitational – Winter Haven, FL AWARD (1995)
Stanton College Preparatory H.S.: Scenic designer (Drowsy Chaperone – (2019), Grease – (2019), Seussical – (2018), Shrek – (2014)
Timucuan Parks Foundation: art instructor “Healthy Living-Art in the Park” (2019); life-size native mural (2011)
St. Johns River Water Management District:
water conservation education design for
posters/placemats (2005)