Gulf Coast Landscapes by Melissa Smith

Early Morning Bayou Portage
About Melissa Smith


Melissa strives to convey the fragile yet timeless qualities of the local watery landscape using a heightened depiction of light and weather in specific local views. She started painting landscapes in the rolling hills of western Massachusetts near Mount Holyoke College where she earned her degree in Fine Arts. In the late 1980’s while pursuing an MFA in Painting at Tulane, she began experimenting with an extended horizontal format. Having grown up in central hilly North Carolina, she was struck by the lush flat expanses of south Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf coast and felt the long format would best depict it. She works plein-air (with her dog) from the back of her SUV or from her pontoon boat, the Osprey. Her work has been exhibited regularly in New Orleans for the last three decades and is included in the permanent collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art and the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel, Mississippi. Her paintings are held by collectors in several countries and many states. Continually seeking new views to paint, she welcomes inquiries and commissions.
References
SELECTED PRESS:
EXPRESSIONS OF PLACE: THE CONTEMPORARY LOUISIANA LANDSCAPE, by John R. Kemp, pub. 2016
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“The Sugar Mill, Smithfield, Louisiana,” cover image for the September 2015 issue of Country Roads magazine https://countryroadsmagazine.com/art-and-culture/visual-performing-arts/september-2015/
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“Directness, Spontaneity, and Challenge,” Melissa Smith Paintings of the Gulf Coast, by John R. Kemp, PLEIN AIR MAGAZINE, April-May 2013
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A UNIQUE SLANT OF LIGHT, BICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF ART IN LOUISIANA, pub. 2012 by the LA Endowment for the Humanities, entry by John R. Kemp A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana: Sartisky, Michael, Gruber, J. Richard, Kemp, John R.: 9781617036903: Amazon.com: Books
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“Extended Horizons, Melissa Smith’s Paintings of the Gulf Coast,” John R. Kemp, LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS MAGAZINE, Winter 2004-05
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“Seascapes are Long on Detail and Color,” by Doug MacCash, THE TIMES-PICAYUNE, June 15, 2001
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“Melissa Smith, Avery Island,” by Jessie Poesch, Ph.D., Hall-Barnett Gallery exhibition catalog, April 1992
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"Melissa Smith: Within the Tradition," by Douglas MacCash, NEW ORLEANS ART REVIEW, October, 1991
PUBLIC ART COLLECTIONS:
New Orleans Museum of Art
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel Mississippi
EDUCATION:
TULANE UNIVERSITY, New Orleans, LA, M.F.A. degree, Painting, 1989
MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE, South Hadley, MA
B.A. degree, Phi Beta Kappa, Magna cum laude, Major: Studio Art
Concentration: Painting/Drawing, 1987
ART GRANTS:
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Emergency Grant, November 2005
Contemporary Art Museum Houston KAT Fund Grant, April 2006
Joan Mitchell Foundation Katrina Grant, May 2006
Oil Paintings

Weekend at Grand Isle, Louisiana
Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Oil on board

Week at Cedar Key, Florida
Oil on Board

Wednesday Night Races on Lake Pontchartrain, Heading Out
Oil on Board

View of the Mississippi near Port Allen
Oil on Board

View of Cane Fields from the Levee, Port Allen
Oil on Board

Port Allen Sugar Mill
Oil on Board

Skip and Marilyn's View, Johnson Bayou
Oil on Board

End of Day, Dauphin Island
Oil on Board

Marsh, Bay St. Louis
Oil on Board

Cape Hatteras National Seashore, NC
Oil on Board

Dauphin Island Bird Sanctuary
Oil on Board

Bayou Arcadia, Moonset at Dawn
Oil on Board

Afternoon, Metairie Cemetery
Oil on Board

Afternoon Storm, Dauphin Island
Oil on Board

Levee View, Port Allen
Oil on Board

Idyll, Lake Pontchartrain
Oil on Board
Watercolor

Our Lady of the Gulf Angel, at Moonrise
Watercolor on Paper

St Rose de Lima at Dawn
Watercolor on Paper

Gulf Coast Tree Farm
Watercolor on Paper

Bottle Rockets 79 Cents
Watercolor on Paper

Bayou Lacroix Fireworks
Watercolor on Paper

Black Cat Fireworks
Watercolor on Paper

Sunset, Washington St. Boat Launch
Watercolor on Paper