LONDON/MAINE
Melanie Essex grew up in rural eastern Long Island, spending her summers in Maine. After ten years in the film industry, she returned to school and studied painting at the New York Studio School for four years. She moved to London in 1995 where she lived and worked for two decades, raising a family and maintaining a series of studios - the last of which is pictured above. In 2016 she returned to the US and to the coast of Maine full time. When people ask her what it was like to move from London to Maine she replies - "the winters are better and the spring is worse". Her work continues to reflect the imagery and experience of her environment, influenced by years of looking at paintings, going to the movies, and watching the sky.
EXHIBITIONS
2023 "Ultramarine" Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2021 “Drawings and Paintings” Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2019 "Above us Only Sky" Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2017 Camden Public Library, Camden ME
2009 Price Waterhouse Cooper, London, UK
2007 New Grafton at ICG, London, UK
2006 New Grafton Gallery, London, UK
2006 Whitney Artworks, Portland ME
2005 Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland ME
2005 New Grafton Gallery, London, UK
2004 Icehouse Gallery, Greenport, NY (with Elisa Jenson)
2002 Cassian de Vere Cole Fine Art, London, UK
2001 Cassian de Vere Cole Fine Art, London, UK
1998 Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland ME
1997 The Groucho Club, London, UK
1994 The Rose Cafe, New York, NY
1992 New York Studio School, New York, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 UMVA Dark Skies Exhibition, Waterfall Arts, Belfast, ME (upcoming)
2024 A Particular Kind of Heaven - KARMA Gallery, Thomaston ME/ For Your Eyes Only - Ice House, North Haven, ME/ ART PM - Buoy Gallery, Kittery, ME/ ART SHOW - Wolf, Walpole ME/ Nor'easterly 3 - Katzman Contemporary, Dover, NH/Transitions - LC Bates Museum, Hinkley, ME, For We are all Sprung from Earth And Water - Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME/Down the Rabbit Hole - Lights Out Gallery, Norway, ME/SWS24 - gallery b, Castine, ME/Denizons of the Sky, View Arts Center, Old Forge, NY
2023 A Room with a View - Vardan Gallery, Los Angles, CA, Winter Invitational-Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY, Home - Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME (curator)
2021 Autumn Group Exhibition, Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2020 Hot and Cold, Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME
2019 Space Heater - Able Baker Contemporary, Portland, ME, Winter Invitational - Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, Back to Nature - Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, ME, Atmospheric Water, LC Bates Museum, Hinckley, ME
2018 Weather Pending Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland, M. Visions of Place: 30 Contemporary Maine Artist, Thomas Moser, Freeport ME
2017 Summer Selects, Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland ME
2016 Winter Group, Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland ME. Summer Group, Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland ME, Family, Latymer Upper School Gallery, London, UK
2012 Holiday, Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland ME
2010. The Drawing Group, Mars Hall, Port Clyde, ME
2009 The Drawing Room, St. George, ME
2007 St. Pauls Collects, St. Pauls School, London, UK
2006. Winter, Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland ME
2005 ArtLONDON, New Grafton Gallery, London, UK, Five Women, Goldsmith Gallery, Boothbay Harbor, Maine
2004. Group Show, New Grafton Gallery , London< UK, Living in the City, The Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK,Group Show, England and Co., London, UK, ArtLONDON, The Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK
2003. ArtLONDON, The Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK
2001. Beckoning Visions, New York Studio School, NY, NY
2000. Group Exhibition, Cassian de Vere Cole Fine Art, London, UK. On the City, New York Studio New York, NYIslands, Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland ME
1999. Tatischeff Gallery, New York, NY, Art at 100, Dickson Russell at Hammersons, London, UK,Caldbeck Gallery/Sheepscott Wellspring Alliance, Rockland, ME
1999 - 2007. Art Views, Sophie Montgomery, London, UK
1998 Caldbeck Gallery, Rockland ME
1997 Cadogan Contemporary Art, London, UK
1996 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London, UK
1995 Transcriptions, Union College, Schenectedy, NY
1994 The Perceptual Pursuit, Fordham University, New York, NY
RESIDENCY
MonsonArts, Monson, ME 2020
AWARDS
Merit Award for Excellence in Painting and Drawing, New York Studio School, New York, NY, 1994
Milton Avery Scholarship, New York Studio School, 1992,93
Venice Travel Fellowship, New York Studio School, 1993
EDUCATION
New York Studio School, New York, NY, 1990-94
Institute National Superieur des Arts, Bruxelles, Belgium,1981-82 Rotary Fellowship
Harvard University, BA, Cambridge, MA, 1977-81
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Halperin, Julia. "Maine is a new Art-World Hotspot. Here is Painter Ann Craven's Guide to the Scene", Cultured Magazine, July 2024Shearer,
Shearer, Jessica."Karma's Maine Group Show "A Particular Kind of Heaven" offers a century of Skygazing", Boston Art Review, August 2024
Chrichton, Al. Exhibition Review, "Home" and "Mustard Seeds": Two Knox County Exhibitions, Freee Press, November 2023.
Arango, Jorge. "Close out the Season with Connecticut gallery, Cushing artists Lois Dodd and Melanie Essex". Maine Sunday Telegram August 2023
Little, Carl. "Melanie Essex: Varieties of Landscape Experience", Maine Arts Journal, July 2022
Thompson, Chris. Exhibition review. Whitney Art Works, Portland, ME. Portland Phoenix August 2006
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