Page 26 - Sept 2023 Galveston Monthly

OuT & abOuT | arTisT spOTlighT

TurnInG STumPS InTo SculPTureS

dead Trees geT neW life from local arTisT della merediTh

by eSTher dAvIS mcKennA

ella Meredith won her first art competition in artist mother and has painted many beach scenes on
kindergarten and has been creating art ever doors, windows, and tiki bars in and around Galveston.
dsince. forty years later, she has perfected her Meredith grew up in Pasadena, lives in La Porte, and
craft in the preferred medium of three-dimensional has been coming to Galveston all of her life. “i’ve been
art pieces. These days you will find her on a ladder, influenced and mentored by several Galveston artists,”
with a chainsaw in hand, shaving sculptures from she said.
snags - standing dead and dying trees from freezes, She has an extensive background in art education as
hurricanes, or floods. well. She was president of the art club in high school
“i don’t remember my life without art in it,” Meredith where she was also named the Most Outstanding in
said. “The first book i ever took out from the library fine Arts.
was about art. i’ve been creating and learning about She earned a degree in fine Arts, with an emphasis
art as early as i can remember anything.” on three-dimensional design, from Sam Houston State
Meredith is a well-rounded artist who has mastered university. Meredith also taught art in middle and high
woodworking, soldering, casting, sculpting, and schools in kingswood and several other districts.
painting. She learned how to paint murals from her Meredith was hired by a tiki bar company to come

26 | GALVESTON MONTHLY | SEPTEMBER 2023