Meet Melissa Beck

Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Beck.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Making art has always been one thing I truly felt I could do. Growing up, I took art classes at Monart in Santa Monica. I feel very blessed to have supportive parents who encouraged my brothers and me to explore our creative interests. I majored in Studio Art at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. In my Junior year, my painting professor let us do anything for our final project, and we didn’t have to use paint. So I gathered used objects such as a door, a rug, wallpaper and combined these with recorded sounds and text and made an installation. After that, I was sold on doing only installation and sculpture work. I dabbled some in fashion and costume design after college, working at the Old Globe Theater and La Jolla Playhouse. However, that brought me back to installation as I worked at Anthropologie mainly on window display. In 2011 I moved to Brooklyn, NY to do my MFA in Sculpture at Pratt Institute. I lived in NYC for four years and became quite inspired by the city’s architecture and tight living spaces. Lack of a studio space and living as a young artist in the city isn’t easy. My work began to shift, and I started using the architecture in my brownstone apartment as both material and a site from which to make work. Restrictions became creative impetus from which I made art. I developed this concept, Graft Art (www.graftart.com) and curated exhibitions in my brownstone apartment. I invited artists to meld their type of work (photography, performance, sculpture, etc.) with some tangible part of the home space. My first “Graft Art” piece was lots of bread slices shoved into an old vintage radiator, a fixture so prevalent in NYC indoor spaces. People really enjoy that piece. Whimsy and humor is an important aspect of experiencing my work. In 2015 I moved back to SoCal to be closer to family and outdoors more, but NYC will always feel like a second home.

Please tell us about your art.
I make art stuff from everyday stuff. The way I work often begins with materials, but then I find deeper more esoteric layers. I’m drawn to the everyday objects and spaces that tend to fade into the background of our lives. Stuff like sinks, chairs, bandaids, clothing, bread, cake, sponges and things most of us have in abundance are my art materials. While mundane, they fulfill an important role in forming our routines and thus embody a very valuable sense of comfort.

Through my work, I hope to shift people’s understanding of how we know things. We may know a towel or utensil only in its intended contexts such as a bathroom or kitchen, understanding it purely as functional. Once taken out of its typical arrangement or context, we might think about it differently.

I hope people will practice lingering longer with something normally overlooked. Things are so fast in our world these days, but we need slow. I hope my work can slow us down. Maybe this will develop a practice of looking at other things differently too; to spend a second longer with something or someone that typically falls into the context of boring, useless or dull. We might find new worlds in these banal places, things or people…I know that I have. Whimsy and humor are present in most of my work, and I hope people feel this when experiencing my pieces.

I tend to use food as a material in my work. I consider preserved packaged foods as art supplies. Whether I’m working with cake or wood, both are processes of physical rearrangement and manipulation. I have a lot of fun problem solving how to get food and other materials to do what I want! I love the moments when things click or come together. I talk a lot about my artist process with my family as they are supportive and creative people. Both of my brothers are creative, one a chef, the other a musician, so we talk a lot about the artist life. I enjoy the communal energy we share. To me, art is much more than just a finished product, but the experience around it and the process of creating it. I’m passionate about making work that is more than a visual experience, but rather works that are dynamic interventions, inviting the viewer to touch, smell or consume something.

Currently, I live in North County San Diego and have shown work at Bread and Salt, San Diego Art Institute and with Vanguard Culture. I also teach the Sculpture courses at Concordia University in Irvine and truly enjoy imparting my experiences making sculpture to my students.

Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
One most valuable way of learning is by taking risks, testing things out, failing and getting back up again. I wish I learned better time and resource management earlier. I recently went through an awful year and a half of illness which forced me to spend the little energy I had only on things that mattered. It was a hard season, but it really developed a more focused, diligent artist practice for me. Now I don’t waste as much time, and I’m not as unsure about trying things out. That season also made me realize how precious life is and how not in control I am. I think it’s important to go with the flow of your life, hold loosely to what you’re passionate about, but work on them with your best effort. It’s a bit of a paradox, but I seem to be more passionate about my creative endeavors than before, and I worry less that these things turn out exactly the way I want. My identity is far less wrapped up in the art I make, but I can’t see myself doing anything else. I’m still working on all this, but I’m grateful for what I learned. I think our experiences, good or bad are gifts and we should in a sense repurpose them as I would use clothing or disposable sponges to make art. You have to be intentional in altering that bad experience for the better and truly valuing the good experiences. My brother once told me that the best opportunity to take is the opportunity you already have. You may not have the most coveted opportunities you want right now, but you do have some opportunities at your disposal, focus on those and do your best at them. Also, self-care and grace for yourself are huge. Be patient with your journey and even be patient with how long it takes you to know what “your journey” is! I’m learning to accept and embrace the way and pace with which I do this artist life. We hear a lot of advice from culture and those we look up to, which is helpful, but sometimes that can set unrealistic standards for where we are in the present. Even the importance of practicing self-care and grace can be a pressure! Give yourself grace that you’re “in process,” and the in-process part is just as valuable as the finished product.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I keep my Instagram (@mbeck1) and website (www.melissabrowder.com) up to date with exhibitions and current projects. I’d love to connect with other creatives whose interests overlap with mine!

I’m currently working on a piece for an exhibition called Extra-Ordinary Collusion. Each artist in the show is paired with a scientist whose research is serving as inspiration for the art. I’ve been working with a scientist who is researching the microbiome… so food might be a relevant material to use again! The show will be in the Fall at the San Diego Art Institute.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.melissabrowder.com/
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mbeck1/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mbeckart/

  Image Credit:
Paul Takeuchi, Melissa Beck

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