show opens online at the Arts Council of the Valley this Thursday October 1-30 with AJ Morey and Dietrich Maune https://www.valleyarts.org/current-exhibition
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Julia Merkel, Black Pearl  30 x 20 oil on canvas 2020

Most of my artwork is paint-based, so it is exciting to be included in a group of 9 women artists exploring photography and installation through Murmuration. Three new artists' books inspired by the theme of the show will be featured in the second variation opening February 12, 2020 at New Image Gallery 131 West Grace Street in Harrisonburg, Virginia. 
January 29: Nava Levenson, Martha Saunders, Rebecca Silberman
February 12: Corinne Diop, Julia Merkel, Kristin Skees
March 18: Christa Bowden, Dymph de Wild, Rosemary Jesionowski

Artists' books with movable or pop-up features on cherry boards. The abstracted bird forms are based on Virginia's Roseate tern, an endangered species.

Long time friends and horse afficionados Trudy Cole and Julia Merkel debut a 2 person show "Ecce Equus" at Gaines Group Architects' Depot Gallery in the old Chesapeake & Western Railway building in Harrisonburg this Friday. Please join us for the reception 5-8pm  at 141 W. Bruce Suite 201 Harrisonburg, VA.

Trudy Cole and Julia Merkel have been friends and colleagues for years. Despite a common and abiding love for horses, this is their first foray into showing their artwork together. Come view a selection of Cole’s original watercolor studies and drawings for an equine themed premium playing card deck project and Merkel’s horse and rider oil paintings exploring partnerships and personalities.

​Behold the horse!

A recent inquiry has prompted me to write and refresh the site. A 2 person show at Laughing Dog Studios "Pairings" with John Bell, a solo at Hess Financial, a piece juried into Larkin Arts' Regional Show, and "25 for 25" celebrating Warm Springs Gallery's 25th anniversary are just a few of the opportunities to exhibit work this past year. Please enjoy the updates-it's a great time to become a collector as my daughter (and model) is headed off to college in the Fall. All proceeds will be supporting her expenses!

Please join me and Lisa Schirch for the first Friday opening in CMC's new gallery space. We began a dialog last year around the theme "Stations of the Cross." Schirch explores laments, contradictions and healing in A Tribe called Mennonite using traditional art forms. Merkel's large format drawings and sculptural books in Absence/Presence draw from a profound loss. Together we invite viewers to reflect on identity, grief, healing and recovery, especially recovery.

Welcome back dear friends. Please join me for an opening reception at the McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville, VA on February 3rd, 2017 from 5:30-7:30 or for a gallery talk February 26th at 1:30pm.
I have been recovering from a personal loss the last few years and have finally dug out from the despair over losing my son, Jack, to suicide in 2014. Being back in the studio has allowed for much quiet and space to grieve. It has been my belief that art exists in its own realm with no purpose other than to be, but that belief has been called into question with this latest meditative and therapeutic work. I light a candle and pour over images from family albums and translate the emotions and memories into a new series of drawings and artists' books: "Absence/Presence drawing from Grief." Proceeds from this show will benefit Suicide Prevention & Survivor Support.