Kansas City native Melanie Nolker retired from a three decade Early Childhood Special Education career to follow in her family’s art tradition. After twenty years of painting with oils and a palette knife, the Covid years unleashed additional exploration with brush, acrylics, collage and the written word. Melanie's artwork will be on display at the Lenexa City Center branch until April 21,2024.
Tell us about the works on exhibit. What’s the medium? What has inspired their creation?
The works that I will have on display in the library will be varied in size, in genre and in medium. Some have been inspired by travels, some by memories of favorite places from my past and others are drawn from simply experimenting with color, line and shape.
How has your practice changed over time?
The reason these pieces are so varied goes back to the changes I made in my art practice during COVID. Prior to those days, I worked entirely with oil paint and a palette knife, producing colorful and textural impressionistic paintings. During the months of COVID, I took many classes online from my studio. Most were in abstract design, using brushes and acrylic paint. Today, I go back and forth between the two methods. The abstract work challenges me to grow and expand while the palette knife work is calming, like going home. I never get bored.
What areas of your work or personal development are you hoping to explore further?
The process of growth and experimentation has been addictive, and I keep finding other mediums to try and art adventures to take. I’m currently working in collage and mixed media, and I have plans to learn jelly printing in the near future.
How do you know when a work is finished?
I’m often asked how I know when a painting is finished. To me it’s simple. I’m a colorist. That’s the talent I bring to my art. I seem to know a piece is finished when my eye scans the painting and when each color next to another color makes me happy then I tend to be done. It’s not quite that simple but almost.
What is your most important artist tool? Is there something you can’t live without in your studio?
The most important tools in my studio are my palette knife and, right now, Bristol Paper which I use for my acrylic work.
What books, movies and/or music have inspired you recently?
I have recently been using exercises in Drawing On the Right Side of the Brain to produce some of the Blind Contour Portraits that will be in the exhibit.
