Though only in her thirties, Mel Rea has already exhibited alongside such art luminaries as William Morris, Lino Tagliapietra, and Dale Chihuly. Discovered fresh out of art school and placed opposite these and other significant artists, Mel Rea's artwork has been in distinguished company for some time now.

When you behold her work for the first time, these twin aspects are overpoweringly apparent: its quiet depth and the astonishing freshness of vision. At first you are captivated by the persona of her creation, you notice the details, the tentative hands, the sublime face, the style of dress, the inventive accoutrements . . . But what remains is the stillness. This is work to linger over for a lifetime.

Welcome to Mel Rea's world. She takes the earth (clay) and warms it up for you, gives it soul. This is work that is playful and alive, beautiful and provocative. This is work to inhabit the imagination for years to come.

WORKING WITH ENCAUSTICS
"As many artists experience growing pains throughout their careers, my path as an artist has proven to be no exception. After 17 fulfilling years of working as a clay sculptor, I started to crave a new challenge to exercise my artistic muscles. I was given a lot of encouragement to move from my sculptural floor pieces to working with the wall.

After thinking in terms of working three-dimensionally, I wasn’t quite sure where to begin. Artists generally work in such solidarity that we can easily evolve into little self-perpetuating islands. I am very good at being an island. Fighting this tendency, I did something I generally don’t do, I got on the phone and talked, and talked, and talked.

It was more than a couple of years before one particular conversation really struck me. A fellow artist talked to me about his transition from working with clay to becoming a painter. He had developed a wonderful technique of painting on aluminum with car paint, lighting it on fire, and then sanding it down. And boy, was it beautiful; and boy, did he flourish.

Thinking myself equally a genius, I started to light things on fire. I won’t burden my mother with worry by saying more than this - I started a lot of fires. However, I was discouraged from finding the right formula. It occurred to me at this point to revisit a technique I knew to be sweeping in popular waves along both coasts. I’d lived in California for years and recalled many local artists revisiting an ancient Greek technique of painting with hot beeswax referred to as encaustic painting (the Greek word for "to add heat"). The results were amazing but many were discouraged by the warnings of working with heated wax, resins, and pigment. Until these elements are in a cooled state, they disperse dangerous chemicals that in large heated quantities can lead to respiratory problems. Needless to say, my fire burning episodes built my confidence to challenge the elements. At this point, I was a bit daunted about where to begin. This was not a technique they taught in school. I got back on the phone, and the first person I called was my grandmother.

My grandfather, who has now passed, immigrated to the states from Russia as a young man. His small village had burnt down after a terrible lightening storm, and having been left homeless, the family started their pilgrimage to America. My grandfather confided to me that he left Russia with few fond memories, but one part of his Russian life had left a lasting impression. And, that was of his neighbor’s bee farm. He dreamed, too, of having land filled with the sound of buzzing bees producing sweet golden honey, and he did! I have many fond memories of my grandfather’s apiary.

My painfully nostalgic grandmother held onto the last remaining pounds of wax left behind in my grandfather's final hives. Confiding to my grandmother my new adventure, she was thrilled to see her wax turned into a different kind of dream.

At this point, I was off and running with learning this new technique. Now if you’re imaging encaustic artists working in a sweet poetic Grandma Moses like manner in front of an easel, get that out of your’ head! Like I said this medium has toxic warnings attached. Now please put your mind at ease as a collector, because once this wax concoction is in a cooled state, the safety hazards are gone. During my initial excitment, I did not heed the warnings attached to the medium which resulted in raw blisters down my throat. My studio is NOW well equipped with an industrial fan that shakes above my head, and I wear a snuggly fitted respirator.

Now this is my process as it has been handed down to me; I start with a mixture of raw beeswax and add a small portion of damar resin. This helps to increase the strength and melting point of the wax. I then take this base medium and add small amounts of oil paint as my pigment. This mixture is placed in metal containers heated on several large hot plates. I take this molten mixture and brush, pour, and splatter it onto a wooden structure as my canvas. I scrape and gorge the warm wax to add dimension. The beauty of encaustic painting is in the many layers of endless color. To paint in wax layers requires a heat source to fuse the layers. I use a propane torch to fuse between layers, and often scrape and gorge the final layer while rubbing raw oil paint into the surface. And, VOILA!

Though my studio is not the tranquil ambiance I’d hoped I was working towards, my ideal has now changed. I now enjoy pretending I’m Darth Vader while wearing my respirator, and I finally get to work with fire while painting! It has been really exciting to move into the painting world, and the response and support from the art community has been more than encouraging. And, as if the stars were trying to speak to me, Melissa (my full name) is the Greek word for "honeybee". "


ARTIST'S STATEMENT
"As an artist, I revel in my artwork; in the joy it brings me and to others. It is the reflection of my journey through life and all its experiences and influences. I am not sure where my artwork will take me in the future, but I hope I will always be asking the question, "What will I be when I grow up?" You see, as my artwork is me, and it is always being changed and refined, I am therefore always in a state of becoming...."

EDUCATION
Kent State University, Department of Art, B.F.A. in Ceramics, 1995. Cum Laude - under the guidance of Kirk Mangus and Eva Kwong
Pasadena City College, 2001 - under the guidance of Phillip Cornelius
Los Angeles Valley College, 2002


EXHIBITIONS
2007 "3 in 3-D", Perfect Pear Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006 "New Blood" , The Finer Things Gallery, Nashville, TN
2006 "International Clay", San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX
2005 Group Show, Wiessman Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005 SOFA Chicago, IL
2005 "Family Matters", Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD
2005 Art Form Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, FL
2004 SOFA Chicago, IL
2004 Sculptural Objects Functional Art, New York, NY
2004 Contemporary Art Form, West Palm Beach, FL
2003 SOFA, Museum Installation with William Morris, Chicago, IL
2003 ARTForm, West Palm Beach, FL
2003 SOFA, New York, NY
2003 Solo show, Thomas Riley Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2002 SOFA, Chicago, IL
2001-02 Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA
1999-02 Beverly Hills Affair in The Garden, Beverly Hills, CA
2001 Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA
1999 Mad River Fall Collection, Santa Monica, CA


Articles
"Alive With Color", Los Angeles Daily News, June 14, 2000
"Sculpting a Career", Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2000
"Cleveland Sculptor", Chagrin Valley Times, Chagrin Falls, Ohio, June 31, 2002
"Snap Shot", West Geauga Sun, West Geauga, Ohio, March 29, 2007

Competition
2003 000andeye Artreach International Competition, Sculpture Award

Grant
2004 Puffin Award Foundation recipient, New Jersey