MELANIE PARKE
Melanie Parke, Dogwood and Cherry, 60x40, oil
Melanie Parke, Single Yellow Poppy at Dusk, 30x40, oil
Melanie Parke, Orchid Window, 36x48, oil
Melanie Parke, Sleep Song, 40x44, oil
Melanie Parke, Float, 30X30, oil
Melanie Parke, Lazuli Bird, 35x40, oil
Melanie Parke was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and received her BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago with a National Leadership Award. Parke is a recipient of several Professional Residencies, including Oxbow Summer School, Dorland Mountain Colony, Yosemite, and Sleeping Bear Dunes. She has also helped to establish artist residence programs in seven national parks. Parke’s work has been exhibited in the William Havu Gallery in Denver, BSGModern in Atlanta, the Bowery Gallery in New York, Freeport Museum of Art, Midland Center for the Arts, and the Muskegon Museum of Art, among others.
Parke states that “primacy of spontaneity” and “trust in accident and chance” have always driven her work. She is constantly inspired by the works of others, landscapes, and “anything else that generates a spark visually, mentally or experientially.” Parke is inspired by the artists De Kooning, Twombly, Joan Mitchell, Howard Hodgkins and Matisse as well as by many of the American Realists and contemporaries working today. Parke finds inspiration in landscapes and gardens and the “iconic power a flower, a field, a farmhouse or that a shoreline emanates.” The success of Parke’s work comes from her use of color, temperature, and mood and her ability to balances beauty, grace, power, and sentiment within each of her pieces.
“I find a lot of visual stimulation in contemporary periodicals, looking for patterns, colors and objects and interiors which act as shard-like visual aids, spring-boarding a work or nestling into an existing one.”
~ Melanie Parke
CV
MELANIE PARKE
b.1966 Indianapolis
Lives and works in Michigan
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2017 Flock, BLK MRKT, curated by Richard Kooyman, Traverse City, MI
2017 Lark, Warm Springs Gallery, Warm Springs, VA
2016 The Voice in Every Object, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY
2012 Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2011 Anne Loucks, Glencoe, IL
2008 Modern Arts Midwest, Lincoln, NE
2006 Wright Gallery, Northport, MI
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017 Whitney Biennial – Debtfair, organized by Occupy Museums, Whitney Museum of Art, NewYork, NY
2017 Summer of Love with Mary Judge, Gabe Brown, David Konigsberg, Kenise Barnes Fine Art,Larchmont, NY
2017 Driven to Abstraction curated by Caroline Blum, Susan Eley Fine Art, NY, NY
2017 The Salon Show, Tory Folliard Galley, Milwaukee, WI
2017 The Presence of Blue, Warm Springs Gallery, Warm Springs, VA 2016 #PUSSYPOWER, curated by Jennifer Samet & Michael David, David & Schweitzer Contemporary, Bushwick, NY
2016 Flower Power, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY
2016 Italian Airs, Schema Projects, New York, NY
2016 Peonies at a Crime Scene curated by Julie Alexander, Neon Heater Gallery, Findlay, OH
2016 Wallflowers, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2016 Open Pomegranate curated by Frankie Gardiner, CuratingContemporary.com
2016 Luck of the Draw curated by Trent Miller, Madison Public Library, Madison,WI
2016 Graham Nickson Juried Show, Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY 2015 Gallery II Group Show, Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont, NY
2015 20th Anniversary Show, Tvedten Fine Art, Harbor Springs, MI
2015 Melanie Parke & Richard Kooyman, Anne Loucks Gallery, Glencoe, IL
2015 Going Big, curated by Suzan Shutan & Susan Carr, Central Booking Gallery, NY, NY
2015 Figural curated by Richard Kooyman, BLK MARKT, Traverse City, MI
2015 The Figure Show, Warm Springs Gallery, Warm Springs, VA
2015 The Figure and the Landscape, Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI 2014 Anniversary Show, The Painting Center, New York, NY
2014 Lois Dodd Juried Show, First Street Gallery, New York, NY
2014 The Painters Table, Warm Springs Gallery, Warm Springs, VA
2014 Summer Salon, Ober Gallery, Kent, CT
2014 The New Still Life, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2014 Fresh as Form, curated by Aubrey Levinthal, Lauren Garvey and Derrick Quevedo, CuratingContemporary.com
2014 DO IT YOURSELF, curated by Julie Torres, Bushwick, NY 2013 What I Like About You, curated by Julie Torres, Parallel Art Space, Ridgewood, NY
2013 What I Like About You/ North, curated by Julie Torres, Imogen Holloway Gallery, Saugerties, NY
2013 What I Like About You, organized by Brian Edmonds and Julie Torres, CuratingContemporary.com
2013 25th Anniversary Show, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
2013 DebtFair, curated by Members of Occupy Museums, DebtFair, NY, NY 2012 Euphemize, curated by Paul Hopkins, Slow, Chicago, IL
2012 Artists Book Show, curated by Dee Clements, Papercrane, Chicago, IL 2011 Marji Gallery, Santa Fe , NM
2011 Tvedten Fine Art, Harbor Springs, MI
2011 Water Street Gallery, Douglas, MI
2011 San Francisco Fine Arts Fair, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM 2010 The Painting Show, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
2010 Femininity in Paint; with Cora Cohen, Margie Stewart, Kiki Slaughter, Emily Amy Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2009 Paint as Subject; with Carl Plansky, Dorothy Goode, Cara Entels, Emily Amy Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2008 Field and Flower, Tvedten Fine Art, Harbor Springs, MI
2007 2D 3D, William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO
2007 Four Painters, BSG Modern, Atlanta, GA
2007 Bridge Art Fair Basel Miami, Gebben Gray Gallery, Fennville, MI
2007 He Said, She Said, Tvedten Fine Art, Harbor Springs, MI
VISITING ARTIST / RESIDENCIES
2016 American Academy in Rome, Visiting Artist, Rome, Italy
2015 American Academy in Rome, Visiting Artist, Rome, Italy
2014 Borgo Finocchieto Invitational Residency, Tuscany, Italy
2009 Heliker – LaHotan Foundation, Cranberry Isles, ME
1999 Acadia National Park, ME
1996 Yosemite National Park, CA
1994 Dorland Mountain Colony, CA
EDUCATION
1989 B.F.A. The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1984 Herron School of Art, Indianapolis, IN
1984 Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory High School, Indianapolis, IN
EXTENDED STUDIES
2016 The Oplontis Project Symposium, Kelsey Museum, Ann Arbor, MI
2012 Open Engagement Conference, Portland, OR
2012 Klein Art Works Seminar with Paul Klein, Chicago, IL
2011 Hand In Glove Conference for Independent Arts Organizers, Chicago, IL
2010 New York Studio School, Drawing Marathon with Ron Schubrook, NY, NY
1998 Oxbow Summer School, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1994 Outward Bound, Mount Katahdin, ME
1983 Carleton College Summer Writing Program, Northfield, MN
CURATORIAL, COLLABORATIVE & INDEPENDENT PROJECTS
2017 Curator: Cities, like dreams, Swamps Where Cedars Grow, The Provncial, Chief, MI
Co-Organizer: WAYLAID, Performance created by Gretchen Eichenberg and Jennifer
Sperry Steinorth, The Provincial, Chief, MI
Moderator: In Conversation: Artist as Organizer, Artist as Agitator, with Michael Huey,
Douglas Witmer and Jennifer Sperry Steinorth, The Provincial, Chief, MI
Co-Organizer: ( un )tacit – Three person show; Matthew Choberka, Ian Hagarty, & Sam
King, co-organizer, The Provincial, Chief, MI
Co-Organizer: Karen Dolmanisth, curated by Holly Spaulding, The Provincial, Chief, MI
2016 Co-Organizer: Cold Summer curated by Peter Shear, The Provincial, Cheif, MI
Curator: Sarah Nesbit solo show, The Provincial, Chief, MI
Mentor: Fellowship with Kestrel Blue Hendrickson, The Provincial, Chief, MI
2015 Curator: Frankie Gardiner, Mountain Reveries et Cetera, The Provincial, Chief, MI
Co-Organizer: Gossip, a Performance by Gretchen Eichberger, co-organizer, The
Provincial, Chief, MI
2014 Curator: Meanwhile Back at the Farm, w/ Yevgeniya Baras, Mike Olin, Clare Grill, Suzanne
Goldenberg, Maria Britton, and Shanna Maurizi, curator, Bushwick Open Studios,
Bushwick, NY
Co-Curator: DO IT YOURSELF, Bushwick Open Studios, Brooklyn, NY
Collaborator: Painting with Social Practice with Stephen Wright, Michigan, Tennessee, New
York
2012 Collaborator: Care Package Project w/ Jonathan Hartshorn, Chicago, IL
Performer, Socially Engaged Art,: Don’t Tell Me How to Love, Socially Engaged Art,
Chicago, IL
Collaborator/ Curator: Immigrant Movement International Actions with Tania Bruguera,
Chicago, IL
Collaborator: After Rain Daddy with poetry by Paul Breschuk, Book Collaboration, Chicago
and Toronto
1995 Founder/ Coordinator: P.A.I.R, Partners for Artist in Residence, an Initiative Proposing 30
AIR Programs in the National Parks.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Post Road Magazine, Issue 28, 2015
Chu, Barbara Perrine. “Melanie Parke.” Pink Pagoda Studio, pinkpagodastudio.blogspot.com, August 25, 2015.
Edmonds, Brian. “Current Exhibition: Richard Kooyman & Melanie Parke.” Anne Loucks Gallery.
Glencoe, IL.” curatingcontemporary.com, February 7, 2015.
Rutherford, Micheal. “Melanie Parke.” Painters Bread, paintersbread.com, February 8, 2014.
Gibson, Steve. “Melanie Parke.” Mockingbird, mockingbirdthoughtz.blogspot.com, August 3, 2014.
Annette, Khadija. “Melanie Parke.” A Beautiful Bridge, khadija-annette.com, October 26, 2013.
Schwartz, Julia. “To Live and Paint (and Curate) in Bushwick and Beyond.” The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 June 2013.
MacInness, Stephen B. “Have You Met… Melanie Parke?” Painters Progress. sbmacinnis.wordpress.com, 30 May 2013.
Andrews, Jason. “From the Six Zones of BOS: Hoarders, Hotel, and The Bureau of Self- Recognition
Norte Maar for Collaborative Projects in the Arts.” Norte Maar for Collaborative Projects in the Arts, Nortmaar.com, 30 May 2013.
Baker, Brett. “What I Like About You.” At Parallel Art Space, Bushwick, Brooklyn. Painters-Table.com, May 2013.
Gat, Yifat. “Look&listen: What I Like About You / Organized by Julie Torres.” Contemporary- DrawingSalon.blogspot.com, May 2013.
Hartigan, Philip A. “Making an Artistic Life in Northern Michigan.” Hyperallergic, Hyperallergic.com, 9 July 2012.
Lowrance, Christopher “Melanie Parke: Landscapes and Still Lifes.” mwcapacity.wordpress.com June 16, 2012.
Darrow, Susannah. “Feminine Painting: Abstractions About an Abstract Concept?” Burnaway, burnaway.org, February 23, 2010.
Warm Springs Gallery
12 Katydid Trail
Warm Springs, VA 24484
540.839.2985
Gallery & Cafe Hours
April 1 – December 31, 2021
Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday
11 am – 3 pm
Eigth Annual Bath County
Plein Air Festival
September 27 – October 3, 2021
For seven days artists will paint picturesque scenes throughout Bath County. Visitors and locals will have the unique opportunity to observe artists as they paint on location.