We recently connected with Melanie Vote and have shared our conversation below.

Melanie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My parents always encouraged me to do what I love and the rest would follow. I think about this in retrospect, coming from two individuals from farming origins and how both wildly idealistic and brave (if not down right crazy) it was to tell their child this. I feel so completely lucky to have heard this from an early age, it was the best gift they could have given me.

Melanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a visual artist, with painting as my main discipline. I originate from Iowa and grew up on a functional farm, but I have lived in NYC for over 25 years now. I love the bustling metropolis of New York City and the artistic community. However, my roots trace back to the countryside where, each year, I seek out places to paint outdoors, visiting my favorite haunts and participating in residencies in remote regions. This is a major part of my creative process. My work straddles these two worlds, investigating the complexities of the human-land relationship, the cyclical nature of all life, and the impossibility of permanence. In temperate months, I work remotely, painting outside. I am a visual scavenger, collecting passages to return to the studio to reconstruct layers of a place, weaving them together into open-ended narratives.
My family were really my first teachers. My farmer father, now 81, with his jovial attitude and work ethic, is still a significant inspiration for me. He continues to farm; it’s his raison d’etre, even though his body struggles to keep up. My mother passed away over ten years ago; she was often found sewing, gardening, or generally fixing things in our world to make it better for me and my sisters. In the vast expanse of my childhood surroundings, I learned to create my own entertainment. Drawing came first and was a way to fill the empty spaces with imagination. The luxury of spending endless hours outdoors, both following around the adults and playing freely, formed a lasting bond with the natural world. These experiences shaped my creativity, fostering a rich internal world that continues to inspire me. I have always had the proclivity to make pictures of some sort, make things with my hands, sometimes even sculptural. One does not really ‘get into’ becoming an artist, I believe we are just born, like having brown or blue eyes. If creatives are lucky that interest or talent is nurtured and honored. Luckily, I had supporters of my work from childhood. Both my mother and grandmother took notice in this interest and encouraged it.The first and only time I got spanked was when I was moved to draw all over a freshly painted hallway. I think I might have been 3 or 4 years old.

I like to work large when a place and space allows though in the last few years I have been really smitten with trees and created series of small plein air with the occasional human figure as interloper in to the landscape. I love painting outside and learning about the natural world, there is a human disconnect to our planet that is deeply seeded in western society that stems from our origin story. trees and the natural world in general in my work contemplates this disconnect.

I attended Iowa State University, receiving a BFA, then moved to New York to study at the New York Academy of Art in 1996. So much of my community stems from this one place, for which I am eternally grateful.
Today, I call Brooklyn my home, and my creative sanctuary is my studio on the Lower East Side in a city-owned building for the arts called the Clemente, which is a cornerstone of my existence in New York. I find myself there almost every day. The best days in the city are the ones spent within its walls, deep in the flow of painting. Even on the days when I’m out teaching, I make it a point to drop by to contemplate the work. Of course, the other extremely important aspect of New York is the ability to go out and see so much amazing art.

At 50, I find myself profoundly lucky to share my life with an incredible human being, my husband Julien Gardair, who is also an artist. Together, we are currently exhibiting our works in a two-person exhibition entitled ‘Concurrence’ at DFN Projects, curated by Liz Garvey of Garvey Simon Gallery.

In addition, I teach painting and drawing in both undergraduate and graduate programs and am so grateful for the opportunity to mentor young creatives and I find I learn so much from them as well!

What are you the most proud of?

I am most proud of my students, for being brave enough to slow down and take time to draw and paint, to really See the world around them. This very act is a challenging, if not even brave in this very chaotic world filled with distractions and fear. And As Gerhard Richter is famously quoted ‘Art is the highest form of Hope

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Yes, I absolutely love the book Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The world would be a better place if everyone could read this book.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I never have a moment of boredom or wishing for time to speed up or wish for the weekend. Everyday I am amazed, that this is my ‘job’. I get to make paintings, to look at paintings and talk to my students about painting and drawing.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? And Yes, I do not own a car, have a mortgage, house or children. I often am uninterested in pop culture or being entertained. I just need to paint and to do this one needs little but space time and the will to do so. So sometimes others out of the art community can find this odd or unfulfilling, frustrating or even frightening.

Contact Info:

• Website: melanievote.com
• Instagram: melanievotestudio
• Facebook: Melanie Vote Studio
• Linkedin: Melanie Vote
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/ydPl4UlvsNs

Image Credits
Bill Massey Photo