Art on a Postcard International Women’s Day Auction - Curated by Louise Fitzjohn

About 

Melanie Russell graduated from an MFA in Fine Art from Slade School of Fine Art 2004 in London, where she now lives and works. Russell's recent practice consists of wall based  drawing and painting using a variety of materials on a various surfaces. She uses observational drawing of natural forms as a starting point for her work.  

Education 

2002 - 2004 MFA Slade School of Fine Art  

1997 - 2000 BA(Hons) University of Wales Institute 

Select Exhibitions/Awards 

Recent exhibitions include 'A Generous Space', Hastings Contemporary,  ‘Extraordinary Sketchbooks’ Mount House Gallery in Marlborough, ‘Contemporary British Watercolours’ Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery in Kent and ‘Jerwood Contemporary Painters’ touring exhibition across the UK. Russell was invited for a residency with Marlborough College, Wiltshire in 2006 and created a public commission for the Weymouth Hoardings Project alongside Dorset County Council in 2010. 

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artworks 

Melanie Russell creates drawings and paintings which capture fleeting moments of botanical beauty in loose lines full of energy, mimicking the very spring that nature relies on to burst into bloom. Russell’s works are playful and experimental as well as quiet and sensitive, dancing between representation and abstraction.  

Observational drawings are the basis of her works which she approaches with a sense of naivety, creating loose drawings in a range of materials, from graphite to pastel and charcoal. She breaks down the organic forms into complex confident lines against a patchwork of colour, giving as much importance to the form as the navigation of negative spaces.  

Russell’s work is a celebration of life and growth, the organic forms which are the subject of her work mainly come from her garden which she created from seed and cuttings, spawning each flower and plant from seed to exuberance. Found objects also act as a muse to Russell’s work; plants, shells and leaves which catch her eye are collected and studied. The colour palette is abundantly bold and vibrant alongside works which relish in rich hues and subtle pastels. Reminiscent of stained glass windows, the works are monuments to the wonderment of the natural world. 

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