Melissa Smith Landscapes, I describe myself as a plein-air painter working outdoors with my dog to capture the extended panoramic views of south Louisiana, and coastal Mississippi/Gulf coast from an old pontoon boat and the back of my SUV.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

I fell in love with the outdoors while growing up in the rolling hills of central North Carolina and began painting landscapes in the Melissa Smith Landscapes rolling hills near Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts where I attended college. When I moved to New Orleans for graduate school in painting at Tulane University, I was confounded by the lush flat landscapes of south Louisiana and the Gulf coast of Mississippi. After much experimentation, I decided that these long, low, sometimes “empty” expanses of landscape could only be addressed in long narrow canvases of quiet detail.

I describe myself as a plein-air painter working outdoors with my dog to capture the extended panoramic views of south Louisiana and coastal Mississippi from an old pontoon boat and the back of my SUV. All paintings are completed on site: My car and my boat ARE my studios. My obsession with the relationships of light, sky, and water with trees, marsh and fields emerges from my love of the south Louisiana/Gulf Coast landscape and my profound need to experience nature directly. I am moved by how the natural beauty of the area is balanced by its desolation, its timelessness by its fragility.

I received my MFA degree from Tulane University in 1989, after which I taught introductory painting and drawing part-time at Tulane for nearly ten years. I exhibited at Hall-Barnett Gallery (now closed) from 1988-1995, where I had my first one-person show, and participated in numerous several-artist and group shows. My second one-person show opened at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts Gallery in 1998. My work was exhibited by Heriard-Cimino Gallery from 1999 until 2006, where I had three one-person exhibitions. One of my landscape paintings [ a cemetery near Grand Isle, Louisiana] was purchased by the New Orleans Museum of Art in 1999. In January 2004 my work was covered in an extensive article by John Kemp in LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS magazine. I have participated in several juried and invitational shows at the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, and, most recently, at the George Ohr Museum in Biloxi, Mississippi.

After suffering losses in Katrina, I received competitive grants from the Pollock-Krasner and Joan Mitchell Foundations, both in New York, and from the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston. For the last twenty years, I have often been commissioned to paint views from weekend homes, farms, beach houses, and hunting and fishing camps. I enjoy the opportunity to paint private views in the New Orleans/Gulf Coast area and welcome serious inquiries. I divide my time between New Orleans and Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.

APPROACH TO PAINTING

I am often asked about the unusual proportions of my work. I am as indebted, as any artist, to the explorations of artists before me. I began experimenting with double-square shaped canvases after having seen Van Gogh’s use of that format in a 1986 show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Double squares became triple squares and soon the paintings were growing longer and narrower in response to the proportions of the south Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast landscapes. I also found a trove of information in Rembrandt’s narrow horizontal etchings of the Dutch landscape. I studied these closely, as well as vision and perspective theory. Because traditional perspective systems break down in high width to height ratios--objects on the ends become distorted-- I had to develop my own methods of depicting space. Traditional perspective systems are one way, but not the only way, to depict space. In my long format paintings, I use drawing to distort slightly the dynamic of forms above and below the horizon. My goal is to increase the feeling of distance in the painting without sacrificing accuracy to the site depicted. I concentrate on qualities of light and weather and how they merge to convey the feeling of a specific view. Numerous thin color glazes are used to enhance the feeling of space. I complete the works by attaching a mounting system to the back, which allows them to float a few inches off the wall without framing.

I am currently experimenting with incorporating the passage of time into views of the local landscape.

RESUME

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

GEORGE OHR RISING: GULF STATES JURIED EXHIBITION, Ohr-Okeefe Museum of Art, August, 2006
Second Annual GRAND ISLE JURIED FINE ARTS EXHIBITION, Grand Isle, LA, May, 2004, Award of Excellence
MELISSA SMITH PAINTINGS AND WATERCOLORS, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, NOLA, Jan.-Feb., 2004
REAL WOMEN, an invitational show, SLU in Hammond, April and May 2002
MELISSA SMITH SEASCAPES, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, NOLA, June 2001
MELISSA SMITH LANDSCAPES, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, NOLA, June 1999
ARCHITECTURE IN ART, a juried show at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, August-September, 1998
MELISSA SMITH LANDSCAPES, New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, New Orleans, May 1998
LOVING THE LAND II, THE SOUTHERN LANDSCAPE, Blue Spiral One Gallery, Asheville, NC, June 1998
ADJUNCT FACULTY EXHIBIT, Tulane University, February 1998
LOUISIANA LANDSCAPES, a show of landscape painters, Contemporary Arts Center, October 1997
ENTERGY OPEN, a juried show of Louisiana artists at the Contemporary Art Center, May 1997
LOVING THE LAND, THE SOUTHERN LANDSCAPE, Blue Spiral One Gallery, Asheville, 1996
FACULTY CHOICE, an invitational show at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Art, September 1996
Exhibit of "View of the SYC from the Point, Early Morning" at the Southern Yacht Club, April 1996
ADJUNCT FACULTY EXHIBIT, Tulane University, October 1993
One Person Show: PAINTINGS OF AVERY ISLAND, Hall-Barnett Gallery, N.O, April 1992
ART IN BLOOM, an invitational show at the New Orleans Museum of Art, April 1992
Hall-Barnett Gallery Group Shows, New Orleans, 1989 - 1994, including a three-person show (September, 1989) and "Five Young Stars" (March 1991)
Academy Gallery Annual Invitational Miniature Show, New Orleans, 1989 - 2004
TULANE FACULTY SHOW, Bea Fields Scholarship Fundraiser, April 1990
NEW ORLEANS 1989: A VIEW OF CONTEMPORARY WOMEN ARTISTS, a juried show sponsored by the
New Orleans Women’s Caucus for Art, May - June 1989

SELECTED REVIEWS:

“Extended Horizons, Melissa Smith’s Paintings of the Gulf Coast,” John R. Kemp, LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS MAGAZINE, Winter 2004-05
“Seascapes are long on detail and color,” by Doug MacCash, THE TIMES-PICAYUNE, June 15, 2001
"Melissa Smith: Within the Tradition," by Douglas MacCash, NEW ORLEANS ART REVIEW, October, 1991

TEACHING:

TULANE UNIVERSITY ART DEPARTMENT, New Orleans, LA
INSTRUCTOR OF PAINTING. Taught an introductory painting class of 20 students, 1993 - 1995, Spring and Fall, 1998, Spring, 1999
INSTRUCTOR OF DRAWING. Conducted a two-semester introductory drawing class of 20 students, 1988 - 1991
VISITING ARTIST. One day workshop in landscape painting, March 1993, New Orleans, LA

DELGADO COMMUNITY COLLEGE, New Orleans, LA
INSTRUCTOR OF PAINTING. Taught painting--introductory, intermediate, and advanced, (Spring, Fall, 1996)

EDUCATION:

TULANE UNIVERSITY, New Orleans, LA 1987-89 M.F.A. degree, Painting
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE, South Hadley, MA 1983-87 B.A. degree, Phi Beta Kappa, Magna cum laude, Major: Studio Art, Concentration: Painting/Drawing

SPECIALIZED STUDIES:

Artistic Anatomy and Realist Painting Program (DANA Fellowship) Summer, 1986
The Color Theories of Josef Albers Spring, 1986

COMPETITIVE GRANTS:

Pollock-Krasner Foundation Emergency Grant November, 2005
Contemporary Art Museum Houston KAT Fund Grant April, 2006
Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant May, 2006

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