Mela M. has lived and worked in Los Angeles, California since 1997. She was born in Russia to Ukrainian and Russian parents. She studied at the Technological Institute of Art Textile Design in Vitebsk, Belarus where she received here M.F.A. in June 1992. She studied at Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California where she received an M.F.A. in May 2002. Melas’ work has been seen at Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California, Coos Art Museum in Coos Bay, Oregon, Santa Monica Museum of Art in Santa Monica, California and the Urban Museum of Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Museum of Contemporary Art Minsk, Belarus and other exhibition spaces.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:
Museum of Contemporary Art Minsk, Belarus, UICA, Urban Institute / Museum for Contemporary Art, Portal Spaces, Grand Rapids (This exhibition was supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and National Endowment for the Art); Stellar Somerset Gallery, ”Spatial Dimensions” Palo Alto, Ca; Duke University, Bryan University Center, Louise Jones Brown Gallery; “Spatial Space and Architecture”, Durham NC; Bluebird Art House “ New Drawings and Paintings”, Whittier, Ca; Peggy Phelps Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, Ca; Solo Atrium Installation, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont Ca: Artist's Contemporary Gallery, “New Drawings” Sacramento, Ca; Harmony Works Gallery, “Space Continuum” Redondo Beach, Ca; South Bay Area Arts Alliance Gallery, Selected Paintings, Gardena, Ca; Whittier Art Gallery & Association, “Space & Architecture”, Whittier Ca; Harmory Works Gallery, “Body in Time”, Redondo Beach, Ca; South Bay Area Arts Alliance Gallery, Gardena, Ca: Teahouse Gallery, Summer Garden, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Technological Fashion College Gallery, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Selected Group Exhibitions:
Colony Gallery, Curated by Mona Casey and Paul McAree, Birmingham, UK; Santa Monica Museum of Art, “Incognito” Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, Ca; Crocker Art Museum, Crocker–Kingsley Exhibition, Juried by a painter Mel Ramos, Sacramento, Ca; Lawrence Asher Gallery, “Perspective: Linear, Spacial and Otherwise”, Los Angeles; I-5 Gallery, “Small Paintings” Los Angeles, Ca; Patricia Faure Gallery “Summer Camp”, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica; Sacred Voice Gallery “2nd Annual Exhibit” Toronto, Ontario, Canada; CAM, Coos Art Museum “Expressions West 2004”, First Prize Winner, Juried by James Mattingly Professor of Art, Emeritus, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, Oregon. Coos Bay, OR; COCA, Center on Contemporary Art, Northwest Annual Exhibit, Juried by Ken Lum Professor of Art History, Visual Art and Theory, University of British Columbia, Seattle, WA;Tangent Contemporary Art at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, “Double Take”, San Francisco, Ca; Santa Barbara City College, Atkinson Gallery, Small Images 2004, Juror: Bennett Roberts of Roberts & Tilton Gallery, Los Angeles CA, Santa Barbara, CA; LA Artcore / Brewery Annex, Three Person Winner Show, from 20th annual competition juried by critic, collector & art consutant Neil Menzies, Los Angeles, Ca; Viridian Artist @ Chelsea, Slide Exhibition, 15th Annual Juried Exhibition, Juried by Charlotta Kotik, Curator of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, New York, NY; LA Artcore, Wallworks, Juried by Alma Ruiz, associate Curator of MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, Los Angeles; The 10th Annual Los Angeles Art Show benefiting the Art Museum Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LACMA, Santa Monica, CA; Los Angeles Art Association, “White Planes”, Juried by Michelle Isenberg, LA, Ca; Selah Artistic Giving Center, Story of Homelessness, Los Angeles, Ca; Clarion Gallery, Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, PA; Phoenix Gallery “National Juried Competition”, juried by assistant curator Lilian Tone, NewYork Museum of Modern Art, Department of Painting and Sculpture, New York; B.J. Spoke Gallery, “Expo XXII” National Juried Five Person Show, Selected by Susan Cross, assistant curator of New York Guggenheim Museum, Huntington, New York; Andrewshire Gallery, Los Angeles Art Association Show, Los Angeles, CA; LAAA ANNEX “Small work”, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica Ca; Market Gallery, Four-person show, “TWO + 2” Los Angeles, Ca; The StandartT Gallery, represented by Raid Projects Gallery, Chicago, IL;Pond / 1-Quartiry Gallery, represented by Raid Projects , Chicago, IL; Wurdemann Gallery/825/ LAAA, “Transformations”, Los Angeles, Ca; The Second City Council, “Why Art?”, juried by assistant curator Dr Rachel Teagle, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD), Long Beach, Ca; Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, “Focused on the Forum”, Santa Barbara, Ca; The Office Art Space, “Brush”, Huntington Beach, Ca; LA Artcore, “Wallworks” 20th annual juried competition (Third place winner), juried by critic, collector & art consultant Neil Menzies, Los Angeles, Ca; Off Rose Secret Gallery, “Outside in”, Two-person show, Venice. Ca; Crazy Space, “De Construct”, Installation / Performance, Three person Show, Santa Monica, Ca; Hollywood Digital (LAAA), “An Exhibition of 12 Artists” Hollywood, Ca; Claremont Community Foundation, Three-person show, Claremont, Ca; White Gallery Space Claremont Graduate University, Claremont Ca; “Incite Insite”, Installation, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont Ca; Artist’s Contemporary Gallery "Introductions", Sacramento; Santa Ana Grand Central Art Center, Group Show, Santa Ana, Ca; "How Original" Gallery, Group Show, Laguna Beach, Ca; Guggenheim Museum, Chapman University, 7-th Orange Open, (Honorable Mention), Orange Ca; East Gallery, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont Ca "Fresh Meat", Claremont, Ca,; Articulture Gallery, Hermosa Beach, Ca; Long Beach Art Gallery "Wheels Show", Long Beach, Ca; Diane McKinney Gallery, “Sky View”, Venice, Ca; Nevski Prospect Art Gallery, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Baltiysky Dom Theatre, Saint Petersburg, Russia, Catherine’s Palace Gallery in Pushkin, near Saint Petersburg, Russia; State Art Gallery, Moskovsky Prospect, Vitebsk, Belarus; Korovin Artist House Open Studios, Gurzuf, Crimea, Russia; Crimson on Volga Arts College Gallery, Kostroma, Russia;

Selected Public Collections:
 Southwestern Oregon Community College, Coos Bay, OR; Tangent Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA, Venice Beach, CA; South Bay Area Arts Alliance, Gardena CA

Awards Grants & Residences:
 Durfee Foundation, UICA Portal Spaces Solo Show Winner, Grand Rapids, Michigan (December -March.)This exhibition was supported by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and National Endowment for the Arts; Crocker Art Museum, Crocker–Kingsley Exhibition, Competition Winner, Juried by a painter Mel Ramos, Sacramento; First Award Prize Winner, CAM, Coos Art Museum, Juried by James Mattingly, Professor of Art Emeritus, Western Oregon University, Coos Bay, OR; New American Painting, 2004 Pacific Coast Competition, Juried by Michael Klein, Curator of the Microsoft Art Collection, December; EXPRO XXII National Juried Competition 5-person Show Winner, B. J. Spoke Gallery, Selected by Susan Cross, assistant curator of New York Guggenheim Museum, Huntington, NY (March); National Juried Competition, 2-person Gallery II Show Winner, Phoenix Gallery, juried by assistant curator Lilian Tone, NewYork Museum of Modern Art, Department of Painting and Sculpture, NY, NY; LA Artcore / Brewery Annex, 20th Annual Competition Third Place Winner, juried by critic, collector & art consultant Neil Menzies, Los Angeles, CA; Teaching Assistantship Fellowship, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA; Tuition Discount Grant, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont CA; 7th Orange Open, Honorable Mention Winner, Guggenheim Museum, Chapman University, Orange,CA; First Award Winner, Riviera Village Festival, Redondo Beach, CA; Fashion Design Education Grant, Technological Design and Fashion College, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Student Fellowship Stipend, Technological Institute of Art Textile Design, Vitebsk, Belarus; Student Fellowship Stipend, Crimson on Volga Arts College, Kostroma, Russia.

Bibliography:
RTHK, Radio/Televvision Hong Kong, China General Programmes Section, TV Interview, Producer Tim Cheung, (July 17, 2005);Presented by the Kingsley Art Club and the Crocker Art Museum, “74th Crocker- Kingsley Exhibition”, A Juried Competition for California Artists, January 29-March 13, 2005, Crocker Art Museum, Catalog,, January 2005; Artweek, Editor Debra Koppman, Stellar Somerset Gallery, Previews, “Mela M. Spatial Dimensions” Palo Alto, CA, June 2005; Scott Shields, “Croker-Kingsley 74th Exhibition” Crocker Art Museum, Catalog, Jan 2005, Coagula, Lawrence Asher Gallery, “Perspective: Linear, Spacial & Otherwise”, Los Angeles, CA, March 2005; Selah Artistic Giving Center, Story of Homelessness, Catalog, Los Angeles, Ca. December- January,. 2005;Azusanianesr Bread Crumbs, ” A wannabe Artist Personally Blogging a Life’s Happening in the Land of the Angels”, Mela M., Moto Okawa, www.motookaw a.com, Tuesday, May 17, 2005; New American Painting, Catalog, 2004 Pacific Coast Competition, Juried by Michael Klein,Curator of the Microsoft Art Collection, December, 2004; Christopher Knight, Times staff writer, “The Many Colors of White, Explored”, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, March 19, 2004; Jess Holl, “Signed up for ‘Summer Camp”, Galleries, Calendar Weekend, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, July 22, 2004; Coos Art Museum, “The World”, “Expressions West 2004” Coos Bay Oregon, Friday, July 9, 2004; Out and About, “Museum Offers Talk, Workshop”, Coos Bay, OR, May 10, 2004; Presented by Fine Art Dealers Association (FADA), Benefiting the Art Museum Council of LACMA, Catalog, Los Angeles Art Show, Santa Monica, CA, October 14-17,2004; Valerle Marrs, “Local artist exhibits in Whittier”, Whittier Daily News, Whittier, CA, December 31, 2003; Zucman, Glenn, “Strange Angels” Radio Interview, KBEACH.org., CSU Long Beach, CA, April 13, 2003; Harrison, Helen A., “Whose Paradise Is It, Anyway? Expo XXII”, New York Times, Arts and Entertainment, Long Island Edition, March 16, 2003; Wallace, George, “Guggenheim Curator Picks Spoke Expo Artists”, The Long Islander, New York, March 6, 2003; Sokolovskaya, Aleksandra, “People in America”, LA Panorama, Los Angeles, January; “Master of Fine Arts-2002”, {Catalog} Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, May 2002; Dr. Jeanne S. Willette, “Memory and Metonymy: Mela M. and Postmodern Painting”, Catalog,, June 2002; Richard Smith, “Mela M.’s New Paintings… ”, Catalog ( May); Mela M. Memory and Metonymy, Catalog,, June 2002; Frith, Stephanie, “Riviera Village Festival Reinvents Itself,” Los Angeles Times, South Bay Weekly, Community Briefing,, Spotlight, April, 2000; Easy Reader, ART, Redondo Beach, CA April 27, 2000; International Woman Magazine, LA Woman’s Show, June 1999

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