Honoring founding member, Pat Merriman

HGA founding member Pat Merriman passed away peacefully last week at the age of 89, an active participant in the gallery she helped to create.

In the summer of 2006 Pat Merriman was talking with the owner of the gift shop in the Mercantile Building, who needed to sublet part of the space on the building’s ground floor. Pat had an idea - what if there were an artist-owned gallery in that space? The rent was reasonable, and even though the space had no window to bring in foot traffic, the gift shop could handle sales for the gallery, especially as the spaces of both businesses would be intermingled. Pat spoke to friends in the arts community, who spoke to artists they knew, and a small group emerged. Organizational meetings were held in Pat’s living room, research done, and bylaws written. A group of 15 artists signed the contract agreeing to pay monthly dues and to remain with the gallery for at least a year. These were the founding members of the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts and Pat Merriman was its founding mother.

The ethos of the group would be that all members had an equal say in gallery decisions and that most decisions should be reached by consensus. Pat’s background as a therapist informed this ethos and she always bowed to group decisions even when she had opinions of her own.

Pat loved working shifts in the gallery. She liked meeting new people and talking to them about the artists and the artwork. Many repeat visitors have called HGA their “Happy Place” and it’s clear that Pat felt that way as well. In her artist statement for this year’s anniversary show Pat referred to HGA as her “second home.” It is a home that will miss her acutely.