Community News: Merritt Hall Gallery to feature work by Jerry De Avila and Meridith De Avila

News Release
Published: May 1, 2008

Read the news release below

“Down the Road,” an exhibition of photographs by Jerry De Avila of Braselton, Georgia, and his niece, Meridith De Avila of Lynchburg, will be on display at the Merritt Hall Gallery of Central Virginia Community College through the month of May.  An opening reception will be held on Saturday, May 3, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.

The photographs explore the De Avilas’ shared desire to capture the beauty of a broken world. “Down the Road” includes breathtaking color images from Joshua National Park, Asturias and Mallorca, Spain, the Arizona Desert, Grand Canyon, Jasper National Park in British Columbia, and Mojave Desert. These landscapes will be displayed alongside images of a quiet sunrise after snowfall in Lynchburg and recent black and white film renderings of Lynchburg’s hidden, sometimes tragically forgotten, neighborhoods.

Meridith De Avila, born in Atlanta, Georgia, studied creative writing and studio art at Hope College. Prior to moving to Virginia, she was a freelance writer for The Grand Rapids Press Lakeshore Bureau, and served as interim coordinator of the Sixth Annual Tulipanes Latino Art and Film Festival in Holland, Michigan. A resident of Lynchburg since 2006, her photography has been exhibited at the Mezzanine Gallery and Café, and the Academy of Fine Arts. She is also a resident artist at Third Stone Gallery in Fennville, Michigan. Meridith is the Director of Marketing at the Academy of Fine Arts and is a freelance writer for Lynchburg Living.

Jerry De Avila, who studied at the Art Institute of Atlanta, was born in Santa Clara, Cuba, and served as a photographer for ten years in the Georgia Army National Guard with many overseas tours including Desert Storm, the Panama Canal, and Ecuador.  He has won several journalism awards and has also taught classes on digital imaging and color management.  Jerry also helped with the first use of digital technology at Time Magazine during the Lillehammer Olympics. Jerry lives in Braselton, Georgia and works for EFI where he is responsible for the sale and marketing of their color printing and color imaging products. 

The Saturday, May 3, a reception will be held in Merritt Hall on CVCC’s main campus Lynchburg. It is free and open to the public. For further information, contact CVCC curator Kathy Cudlin at .