A.D. Herzel is an internationally recognized artist, educator, designer, and writer currently living in Blue Ridge, Virginia. She is also a Korean adoptee who explores her identity and creates community through her art. Herzel was adopted in 1970 by a religious family which adopted three Korean children and sponsored about 50 other children. This exhibit will present graphite portraits of Korean adoptees accompanied by silhouettes executed in gold ink and sgraffito drawings of flowers, seeds, spirals, and other imagery specific to each portrait. Herzel offers her art as a way to help process grief and trauma, as well as to join the larger conversation about place and belonging in immigrant communities across the globe.

Herzel writes, “It has taken me 50 years to give light to the shadow of my adoption story. This current flowering moment, rooted and wrapped in the tendrils of history is seeded by the currents of global, religious, and political history. My story though textured with facets, divets, and spikes is just one story in the Korean diaspora and one of the many American immigrant stories worth examining.” Find more of Herzel’s work on her website.

This exhibit is sponsored in part by the City of Roanoke through the Roanoke Arts Commission.

Exhibit through December 11. Hours are Tuesday through Sunday from Noon-5 pm, with extended evening hours on Thursday until 8 pm.

Masks are required.