Storm Lake artist Mary Mello’s paintings on display Sept. 5-Oct. 9 at ISU Design on Main Gallery
08/23/17
AMES, Iowa — Paintings by Storm Lake artist and Buena Vista University faculty member Mary Mello will be on display Sept. 5 through Oct. 9 at the Iowa State University Design on Main Gallery, 203 Main St. in downtown Ames.
The exhibition, “Everything to Everybody,” will feature mixed-media work including encaustic, oil, graphite and printmaking. A closing reception will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, with a gallery talk by Mello at 2:30 p.m.
“I am interested in how legends form and how intuition, memories and beliefs get mixed in along the way,” Mello says in her artist statement.
“What are the most admired qualities one can possess? These deities (in her paintings) gave life, participated in war, harmonized the universe, nurtured man and abided by their own rules. These traits are revealed in the treatment of the surface, like a skin that scars and yet forgives. Patterns and symbols are used to add hints of significance and interpretation.”
Gallery hours for fall semester are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday; 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesday; 3 to 8 p.m. Thursday; and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The gallery is closed Tuesdays and during university breaks and holidays.
About the artist
Mello is an associate professor of art at Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, where she teaches art foundations, Romantic and modern art history, creative thinking, intaglio painting, lithography, woodcuts and bookmaking, the senior seminar and honors coursework. She holds a bachelor of arts from BVU and a master of fine arts in printmaking from the University of South Dakota, Vermillion.
Mello’s work has been in numerous invitational, juried and solo exhibitions through the United States, including Brooklyn Waterfront Gallery, New York; Gallery Nord, San Antonio, Texas; St. Louis University Museum of Art; North Dakota State University, Dickenson; Graceland College, Lincoln, Neb.; Harmon Fine Arts Center, Des Moines; Hearst Center for the Arts, Cedar Falls; Quincy Art Center, Quincy, Ill.; MacNider Art Museum, Mason City; Blanden Memorial Art Museum, Fort Dodge; Sioux City Art Center; Arts on Grand, Spencer; and Clear Lake Arts Center.
Her work was selected for the cover of Kay Siebler’s 2008 book, Composing Feminisms, and featured in the 2001 North Iowa Woman Magazine.
Contacts
Mary Mello, Artist, (712) 363-6509 (cell), mellonee@bvu.edu
Catherine Reinhart, Design on Main Gallery, designonmain@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, Design Communications, (515) 294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu
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August 23, 2017 11:21 am
Tags: Exhibit