 
MEREDITH BROOKS ABBOTTAbbott is a California native who was raised on a ranch in Carpinteria, just south of Santa Barbara. As a child, she enjoyed drawing and painting. She attended Scripps College in Claremont, but wanting to concentrate exclusively on her art studies, she left after less than a year and returned home. She began taking art classes in the studio of Santa Barbara resident artist Douglass Parshall (1899-1990). She also came to know noted American Impressionist and portrait painter Richard Meryman (1882-1963), who was a friend of her family. At that time Meryman was living in Dublin, New Hampshire and spending winters in Santa Barbara. While in Santa Barbara he would paint in the studio of Clarence Hinkle (1880-1960), and Abbott was privileged to paint side-by-side with both men. Meryman had trained at the Boston Museum School, studying there under Edmund Tarbell and Frank Benson, leading exponents of Impressionism and members of the Ten American Painters. He also studied with the realist Abbott Thayer who had introduced him to the small art colony at Dublin. The synthesis of impressionistic technique and realist expression was the hallmark of the Boston School, and it is those traits that were passed on from Meryman to Abbott. In time Abbott decided to complete her academic studies. She returned to school, enrolling in the Art Center School in Los Angeles. After graduating in 1962, like other California artists before her, she went east, to New York, where she worked as an advertising illustrator while taking evening classes at the Art Students League. She visited Meryman at his home in Dublin, and after his death in 1963, completed some of his commissions. After several years in New York, she longed to return to home. In 1970 she moved back to California, settling in San Francisco. It was there that she renewed her childhood friendship with Duncan Abbott, a successful banker, and they soon married. His family had a fifty-acre avocado and lemon ranch in the Rincon area of Carpinteria. In 1974 the Abbotts returned there, and he took over running the ranch while she concentrated on raising their three children and pursuing her art career. This proved to be an ideal setting for a painter so grounded in the artistic traditions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. A visit to the ranch today is an escape from the frenetic, fast-paced life of the 1990s, and a return to the calm and slower-paced world of the 1890s. A two-lane road leads you away from Highway 101 and down into a picturesque valley. Just across a narrow bridge is the road leading to the ranch. At the end of a winding driveway, you see a charming, white clapboard house with yellow trim. The house, which dates from 1873, is beautifully and lovingly preserved. The grounds are lush with informal gardens that blend effectively into the surrounding natural vegetation. Adjacent to the house is Abbott¹s studio, built for her by her husband. The 450 square foot building is illuminated by natural light pouring through high windows set along the north side. These high windows were modeled on ones she had seen in Clarence Hinkle¹s studio. On cool days, a wood-burning stove generates heat, creating a rustic ambiance. It is in this setting of natural beauty, that Abbott is inspired. Here, the spirit of those early California Impressionists surrounds her. It is easy to find links between Abbott and those early artists. Abbott is considered an Impressionist, yet she prefers to be called a Realist. Indeed, like those early California painters, she utilizes impressionist techniques in a realistic format. She is equally adept at portraiture, still life, and landscape. Her subjects are people, places, and things she loves‹children (her own, now grown, and others), flowers and gardens, animals (the chickens on the ranch, her cats and dog), and, of course, the surrounding countryside. She works outside, en plein air, as much as possible and can complete a finished work on location or back in her studio. She has a reverence for nature and a desire to preserve it. Like Joseph Kleitsch (1882-1931), who saw development threatening to destroy the bucolic charm of Laguna Beach in the 1920s, Abbott sees a similar threat to the environs of Santa Barbara in the 1990s. She is a member of the Open Airing Klub (OAK), a group of artists who paint scenes of areas endangered by development. Such works were included in the book Ranchos, published by Easton Gallery in 1997 and in the exhibition that same year, "Nature Preserved," at Heritage Gallery in San Francisco. Abbott brings to her work a remarkable sensitivity to her subject, whether it is landscape, still life, or portraiture. A talented plein air painter, she skillfully interprets natural light and atmosphere, whether it is the full, intense light of mid-day or the subdued light of early evening. Her landscapes are spontaneous and true. A more formal approach is seen in her portraits and still life works. Rich coloration is the hallmark of her still life paintings, the subjects of which are the flowers she loves and the fruits of the ranch. Favored objects are oft repeated‹a brass vase, a colorfully patterned cloth. Her portraits, especially of her children, are loving yet insightful interpretations. Since the mid 1980s the art world had been witnessing a resurgence of interest in and appreciation of historical Impressionism. At the same time, new artists have emerged who recognize the value of expressing their art in that style. It has been a time-honored method; one that is suited to a wide range of subject matter. Collectors avidly seek out their works. Meredith Brooks Abbott is at the top of their lists. It is an honor well deserved. [MMFA Directory | MBA Home | About the Artist | Portfolio One | Portfolio Two | Portfolio Three]  [Portfolio Four | Highlands of Scotland | Recent Aquisitions | Query Form | Contact Information] |