Melinda Morey
FEATURED WORK
ARTIST STATEMENT
Melinda Morey was raised on Kaua‘i and has spent much of her life in or near the ocean. The ocean is an endless source of sustenance and metaphor for the artist, as well as play.
Melinda was also a dancer, beginning at the age of six and continuing into her 30s. “In art school, I used to draw bodies in motion, trying to capture the feeling of absolute freedom that I had when I danced. Recently, I saw a poster for a dance performance, and recalled the feeling of those early drawings. They find resonance in the figures I’m painting now,” she says. “I see the body as the vehicle for expression. It is where the soul resides, and is therefore how we communicate with and from the soul.”
Melinda observes and paints people and places in a way that gives the viewer entry into the experience. “Life is impermanent, filled with an aching beauty and sorrow that results from this awareness. Seen in this way, everything is a potential subject, a reminder of our humanity and the grace of life.”
BIOGRAPHY
Melinda Morey (b. Torrance, California. 11 April 1963), was raised on the island of Kauai, and currently resides in Oakland, CA. Morey studied painting and illustration at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA (1984-1986). She completed a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in Fine Arts - Studio Art at the University of Arizona (1998), and received a Master of Fine Arts degree summa cum laude from Rutgers University in New Jersey (2002).
Melinda is a painter, printmaker, video and installation artist. She has also worked as a commercial muralist and freelance scenic painter since 1987, with commissions reaching from Santiago, Chile to Tokyo, Japan. Her painting and installation work is influenced by the experience of working on a grand scale and by the performative aspect of her livelihood.
Morey is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, NY, The Contemporary Museum, HI and the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts, HI as well as numerous private collections.