Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Melanie Delach. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Melanie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
From a young age, I was always making art. At the kitchen table, in my room, anywhere. My parents encouraged me to keep that up. I took art classes from the age of 9 until I went to college, with an amazing guy named Brian Carroll. He worked for MTV and other amazing companies. He showed me how to draw, how to paint with acrylics and airbrush, and instilled a creative drive in me. I remember trying to explain to him the type of work I wanted to make and he dug through a bookshelf and slapped a Magritte book on the table. I had a field day. To this day, Magritte is one of my favorite artists. I even have a tattoo of his work. I truly believe that going on to get my BFA in painting followed by an MFA was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. My BFA program instilled an even further work ethic into me. My professors pushed us to make so many works of art, and go and look at art in person. Why look in a textbook if you can go see it in the city? While being in school, there were some personal obstacles that occurred that stopped me from learning more, but I did all that I could. As the end of my BFA neared, I knew I wanted to pursue an MFA. I was told time and time again to take some time between degrees, and that many people don’t get accepted right away after a BFA because I was “too young” or didn’t have enough “real world experience”, but I know myself, and I put my all into those applications. I was accepted into many prestigious schools, and chose to take myself to Philadelphia for my studies. The skills I felt were most essential were learning the foundations (contrary to popular belief), going and looking at work in person, and asking questions. Your professors or mentors have walked in your steps to a capacity- there’s SO much that you don’t learn in school that they can share with you. I’m still learning from them and my network of artists.
Melanie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m a multitude of things. An artist, an educator, a friend, a mentor, the list goes on. Through my degree programs I worked my way through understanding what it is that I wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to teach, and I’m lucky enough to do that in many capacities. I work full time as a Program Manager at Free Arts NYC, a non-profit organization here in NYC where I help students develop their portfolios and apply to High School and College for art. I’m also an Adjunct Professor at Adelphi University where I am currently teaching a Junior Level Art Criticism course, have taught drawing, and a First-year Seminar. Both of these jobs feed one another and help keep me “in-the-know”. Most importantly, I’m a mixed media artist. Between textural paintings and works on paper, I’ve created a world I call placeless spaces. I share introspective and honest stories in a surrealistic way about loss, love, discovery, and transformation through figurative and botanical subject matter. I have a studio in Ridgewood and balance my time well and make sure to be there 4-5 days a week, at least. I have built a beautiful network and community of artists in NYC and Philadelphia. The first show I was ever in outside of school was with LatchKey Gallery. They really believed in my work, and made it feel like I could do the thing. After that, momentum started picking up and then shortly after that, covid hit. I was lucky enough to engage in community via instagram where I met Danny Baez, who runs RegularNormal Gallery. He came down to my studio in Philly at the time, we spent the day together- and he got it. He understood the work, believed in the work, and has opened so many doors for me in the art world. From there, I kept making connections and between friends, gallerists, collectors, and others, I’ve really started to define my path in the art world. To me, it’s all about being genuine, showing up for each other, and building each other up. We’re all on our own timelines but we can help each other every step of the day.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding part of being an artist is being able to share parts of my story with the world and seeing how other people share their work and world in the artworld. It’s energetic, and can be exhausting at times, but I wouldn’t change being a part of this for the world.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I’ve dealt with a good deal of obstacles over the years. Haven’t we all? From health, to covid, to loss. But the biggest loss I’ve ever had was the passing of my Nana, who was a mother-figure to me. She passed a bit over two years ago now from a grueling battle with cancer. After her passing, it felt like none of this art-world stuff mattered. What was the point? I let myself have that moment, to grieve. I’ve lost a few really important people in my life as young as the age of 14. This made me think about how quickly life can be taken from you. I made a career pivot at this time from college admissions to arts programming, because I couldn’t let myself be miserable everyday. I knew my studio practice was the thing that made me purely happy and I needed to get back in there. My nana was my biggest supporter. She could listen to me talk about my paintings and ideas for hours. I could hear her in my mind saying- “whatcha painting?” in her little Italian-long island accent. Something shifted in me, and I knew I had to share about these feelings of loss, wonder about where people move onto, this unexplainable connection you can have with someone who isn’t physically here anymore. While this was the hardest time of my life, my work completely changed, for the better. It was more honest, more experimental, more me, than ever. I was always afraid to make this work. I quickly started making work at a rapid fire speed. This helped me grieve and understand how my life has forever changed, but I am sharing with the world what many have felt, or will feel one day. Earth shattering loss- but the odd beauty in the growth behind that.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.melaniedelach.com
- Instagram: @meldelach