Melissa Monroe
@melissamonroe
I am a multi disciplinary artist creating my visions in textiles, sculpture, and acrylic paintings. I am full time artist and mother of 3 teenage kids. I started painting In 2013 and have been full time since 2014. I paint everyday and have created and sold over 1500 pieces of art. I have shown across the states and internationally with galleries. More recently I was featured at the Seattle art Fair as an artist to collect. I live in and am from Portland, OR. I share a home studio, a converted church building, with my partner who is also an artist, Jesse Reno. We paint, inspire, and support each other daily. I am inspired by antiques and vintages items, nature, music and everyday life. I play keyboard and sing in a band called soft memory as an additional creative outlet. I am currently creating work for 3 solo shows in 2024 and large works for the Seattle Art Fair.
My artwork is a personal display of vulnerable emotions. Figures and forms show themselves authentically. Beyond their personas they stand in true form to be observed. For the viewer they act as mirrors for self reflection. My art is timeless, and places the viewer in places no one can remember, places that have not yet been, they act as puzzles leading to the future.
I explore my own spiritual practice through mask making; this is further enforced through wearing and performing in them. I create video installations of myself with the masks to be projected for live music performances.
In early 2021 I expanded my understanding of texture and shape creating handmade rugs and textiles. My designs are informed by my experiences painting and my love for pattern and abstraction.
Each new medium I work with informs my process, weaving and connecting each new idea into all of my mediums. This in turn expands my iconography and purpose.