Melissa Kraft
Melissa Kraft · Source: New York Artists Circle · Rights retained by the original rights holders
- Medium
- Acrylic Paint, Fiber, Found Objects, Ink, Mosaic, Paper, Watercolor
- Practice
- Collage, Fiber/Textile Art, Painting, Works on Paper
Melissa Kraft has exhibited work in the USA, Canada, Poland, Ukraine and Greece. Her work is in the collections of the NYC Dept. of Ed., The Legal Aid Society in NY, The EarlyWorks Children’s Museum, Galeria Labirynt, an… Full biography
Biography
Melissa Kraft has exhibited work in the USA, Canada, Poland, Ukraine and Greece. Her work is in the collections of the NYC Dept. of Ed., The Legal Aid Society in NY, The EarlyWorks Children’s Museum, Galeria Labirynt, and the Copelouzos Family Art Museum. She was Natl. Assoc. of Women Artists Artist of the Month, and her work has won awards from Mills Pond Gallery, Prisma Art Prize, Valley Arts Gallery, Columbia Univ. Medical Center Fine Arts, Ciao Gallery, and Artists Wanted. She was awarded residencies in Poland, Ukraine and Canada, and is one of 22 international artists selected for a traveling exhibition dedicated to the relationships that contemporary artists form with nature.
Melissa completed her MA in Art and Art Education at Columbia University/Teachers College, where she was awarded the Painting Studio Assistantship, and was the recipient of the President’s Award for Community and Diversity.
Artist statement
My work shows abstract figures and landscapes inspired by dreams, children's literature, and the meaning of home.
The watercolor paintings, fiber constructions, and collages integrate memory and imagination, creating elements of fantasy reflected in bright, saturated colors and shapes. The work is an interpretation of moments and places often inspired by the characters of fairy tales and by stories from around the world. The imagery of the paintings incorporates the figures, dreams, dwellings, and landscapes described in those stories.
