Melissa Dickenson earned her Bachelors of Fine Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2002.
A practicing artist, Dickenson has exhibited her work in Baltimore at the Baltimore Museum of Art and Gallery Imperato, at Rodger Lapelle Galleries in Philadelphia, Anno Dommini and Thinkspace Galleries both in California, as well as Transformer in Washington, D.C. and Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo Japan.
Melissa is a recipient of Maryland State Artist Awards in both 2006 and 2008, as well as a finalist for the Walter and Janet Sondheim Prize for 2008. She was recently awarded an Artist Grant to attend the Vermont Studio Center for a month long residency in June of this year.
Recent exhibitions include 'Exploration' a solo show at Youkobo Art Space, Tokyo Japan, May 2007, 'Flora+ Fauna' at Gallery Imperato (also in May 2007), and ‘Imaginary Oceans’ at Blue Sky Factory this January. Dickenson’s work will be on exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art this June in and in July at Gallery Plan B in Washington D.C.
"Our intellectual and material literacy are dependent on paper. This material rescued our hereditary knowledge from the destructive hand of time many times in the past. Paper is a direct reflection of our environment and it’s diminishing state right now, it is also one of the most important forms of communication. Therefore it is appropriate that paper, which has patiently served mankind's progress, should speak about itself and its past.
Having spent the spring of 2007 at a factory in Japan learning Awa Washi (Japanese Handmade Paper), I saw how the environment and economy of a country plays in the production of this valuable resource. Japan’s handmade paper industry largely focuses on indigenous plants for its production. I am particularly interested in the way various cultures and coasts treat the land during this time of environmental disaster. According to the climate, terrain and the wildlife of an area I use paint and graphite as visual texture, letting them be the seeds for the flora and fauna that run rampant throughout my work. There is something so identifiable with plants and animals, I look at both and see human nature in and of itself. They are inspiration for understanding our own existence, and the conjunction of animal and paper is meant to be a dialogue of survival."
Melissa Dickenson