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Free Event

The Gallery@Nest is Proud to Present MERENDA CECELIA Retooled Stories and Hallowed Hulls. Join us for the opening reception on Saturday, March 23rd from 6:30-9 pm. Continues daily through May 5th.


Merenda seeks out a variety of materials for making tiles, ceramic work, and mosaics. The re-use of building materials and found objects is a transformation that parallels the metamorphoses that takes place in the clay itself. She sees this same constant re-birth in herself, her students, and every artist who works creatively to examine the world.

She works with a vocabulary of imagery including houses, figures, natural elements, and tools, which have been pressed or printed into clay. Through these materials and images, and in her writing, she is exploring ideas about interconnectedness, transformation, survival, memory, love, forgiveness, family, and how humans fit into the landscape of time and space.

Merenda spent her childhood in a tight knit community in rural Virginia, raised by a single mother who built houses for a living. Growing up surrounded by trees and creeks gave her a deep-rooted awe of the natural world. She watched people working and saw the value in craftsmanship and the ability to fix, build, and make. These experiences shaped her ideas about how to live and use her hands.

Merenda Cecelia lives in Richmond, VA. She is an artist and state certified art educator with extensive experience in mosaic work including interior and exterior murals. She has taught for 12 years in a variety of settings including public and private schools, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and The Visual Arts Center of Richmond since graduating with a BFA in Art Education from Virginia Commonwealth University.

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  • Jeannie Wermuth

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