Meet Melanie Brown in Rogers Park

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melanie Brown.

Melanie, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I don’t remember a time when painting and drawing weren’t important to me. I remember waving goodbye to my mother from behind an easel on my first day of preschool. I remember crushing colored chalk into powder and then mixing it with vaseline to make my own “magic” paint. I remember dyeing paper towels with food coloring in some complicated process that required multiple stations and ended with staining my mother’s antique wooden drying rack. My father brought home reams of outdated office paper that I would fill up as quickly as he brought it. I didn’t understand the appeal of coloring books. I had never seen black lines outlining the world, so I always attempted to erase the lines with a white crayon. I remember daydreaming about my favorite colors: coca cola with sun filtering through it, chlorophyll, the pink/blue combination at sunset when the setting sun is already behind the hill, cornflower crayons.

But even though my relationship with color and my desire to draw was so strong, I stopped taking art classes once I entered middle school. It was an elective and I was already playing clarinet, so I chose band. I didn’t take another art class until I was a high school senior. I had been making art in secret, so I decided last minute that I should skip taking calculus and sign up for beginning art instead. Best move of my life. My teacher was magnificent. Her class changed my life and within two weeks I knew that I was going to pursue life as an artist. I went on to major in studio art at Knox College here in Illinois and then received my MFA in painting in Washington, DC at American University. The past 22 years since then, I have been an exhibiting and teaching artist. I maintain a robust studio practice, but also teach and facilitate creative practice in others.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
As a teaching artist over the past 20 years, I have cobbled together a living of part-time teaching jobs. Having a bunch of part-time jobs do not come with health or vacation benefits nor a stable salary, so financially it has been a bumpy road at times. However, I’ve always made time for painting a priority. No matter what else that is happening in my life: fluctuating teaching loads, the birth and care of a child (I have two), my studio practice remains constant. I will admit that there have been times- there still are times- that I worried that what I was doing wasn’t actually important since it is work that isn’t routinely rewarded with a salary and benefits. I’m very fortunate to have supportive friends and family, but I do have to be my own cheerleader. On those days that I’m feeling discouraged, I just grit my teeth and show up to the studio and make something. Even if it’s just a little sketch, I have to show up and make something no matter what. That consistency is what keeps me going: I make something every day and the momentum propels me forward.

Melanie P. Brown – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I currently keep a studio in Rogers Park where I do my own work and also teach private students and small groups. As an exhibiting artist, my current body of work has evolved to include live collaboration with musicians, I have performed live painting with Jazz Record Art Collective, The Ursa Ensemble, and am currently collaborating with composer Ryan Ingebritsen on a series we’re calling “Layered Sounds”. In the last two months, Ryan and I performed at Mayne Stage and Piano Forte with violinist Jeff Yang as part of his multisensory project “In The Realm of Senses”.

As a teaching artist, I have taught students as young as 18 months and my oldest student was about 96. For 12 years, I was the director of the children’s art program at Lillstreet Art Center, so I have had a lot of practice facilitating creative work with children. With children, as with all my students, I like to think of my teaching role as a collaborator. I teach certain skills and concepts, but I encourage my students to follow their own ideas so that they are making art that is specific to their vision. It’s so important that people have experience with making art. Art happens when you enter into a process and see where it takes you. There are very few opportunities in other aspects of modern life that you can jump into a process without knowing exactly what your end product will be – especially when you’re an adult. When you make art you have to learn to trust yourself and how to adjust when things don’t go as planned.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I define my personal success as whether or not I am consistently making art. I haven’t been a student for over 20 years, so no one is giving me assignments or holding me accountable for making work. But here, I am making things day after day, year after year. Sometimes, I sell things, sometimes, I don’t, but I just chug along and put in the hours and learn more with each painting. If my art connects me with people I feel successful.

Pricing:

• Private lessons start at $35/hr
• Original paintings start at $200

Contact Info:

• Website: www.melaniepbrown.com
• Instagram: melanie_likes_paint

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