Abbey Messmer was born in Dallas, Texas and received a B.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from University of North Texas in 2001. She currently lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona as a fine artist and also Programming Director at local non-profit Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.
Using water as a metaphor for life’s inevitable state of flux, her work explores alternate perspectives through the lens of liquid distortion. The paintings originate from her photographs taken at the bottom of a pool.
In her process, the artworks reveal the obscured surrounding landscape, expansive skies, curvaceous horizons, corrupted human forms and emblematic props like ladders and umbrellas. They encapsulate personal perception by representing life experiences, genetic code, and outside forces that have an influence on our individual journeys.
Messmer and other local artists ran a work space/exhibition space out of a historic building on Grand Ave in downtown Phoenix called The Lodge for over a decade and it served as an anchor for the Grand Ave arts district until the end of 2021. She continues to work in her new studio at La Melgosa Building on Grand Avenue.
Highlights of her exhibition experience are showing at Phoenix Art Museum, Mesa Arts Center, Herberger Theater Center, Shemer Art Center, Estrella Mountain Community College, Monorchid and participating in a project called Art360 with the Arizona Science Center where her work was animated and projected on the dome of the Dorrance Planetarium. In 2023, she presented her first museum solo exhibition at Mesa Contemporary Art Museum.
In her director position at the Center, she is most proud of her work serving the community through cultural awareness programs and programming main stage events that champion diversity and community engagement. Her work at the theater is balanced with her practice in the painting studio.
Messmer was a member of Phoenix art collective Eye Lounge from 2012-2015 and was a Contemporary Forum Arts Grant recipient in 2015.
