An artist since the age of 3 when doll clothes were forsaken for crayons, Melanie was “the kid in grammar school who did the color chalk murals on the blackboard.”  She took Art all through High School where her teacher was a very strict disciplinarian adhering to all the basic concepts of color and form. 
  Melanie continued on to major in Studio Art at Douglass (Rutgers) College. 
Here creativity and expression were all-important.  She concentrated on sculpture, and studied with some of the top Minimalists.  She graduated with a B.A. and High Honors in Fine Art.

Shortly thereafter Melanie discovered color and shifted to oil painting.  She jumped right into her own style which she dubbed “Minimal Fauve”: hard edges, simplified design and bright colors used “however.”
    In her “restless 20’s” she moved from “one artscene to the next”...a loft in NYC, a widow’s walk garret in Provincetown, Mass., the picturesque town of Lahaina, Maui, the excitement of Aspen, CO. and finally “landed” in the nascent ski resort of Telluride.  At each location Melanie painted whimsical, colorful renditions of the local landscapes, interiors and façades she encountered...and her artwork started selling!!
   The Telluride years were a turning point.  Melanie was highly productive and happy in her sunny Main Street studio.  She began collaborating with a master silkscreen printer who worked with her images.  She hung a big artshow of her work every September to coincide with the Telluride Film Festival.  She was even the 5th Film Festival poster artist.
    Telluride being in the “Four Corners”...Melanie lost no time in visiting Mesa Verde (the “Grandaddy”of all the Anasazi ruins”.)  She was immediately entranced with Anasazi pottery and petroglyphs which she began incorporating into her art.
   A bizarre detour to Gainesville, FL. found Melanie doing graduate study in silkscreen printing at the University of Florida.  This led to outdoor artshows at Sunfest in West Palm Beach, Coconut Grove and Las Olas in Boca Raton.
   Getting back on track, Melanie moved to Santa Fe in the fall of 1988.  A whole “new world” was to open up for her when she was introduced to the printing press.  She began doing monotypes, and after a show of them at the Laurel Seth Gallery, she was invited to join Eli Levin’s etching club.  Shortly thereafter Melanie “ran out” and bought her own little printing press...and she was “on her way!”
     She joined two local art groups, and in 1992 began showing and selling outdoors...a table on the Plaza with the Santa Fe Council for the Arts, a booth with the Santa Fe Society of Artists, then as a rotating Plaza vendor and as a “permanent” Plaza vendor. It’s been great!    ...Now retired.