Tennessee, watercolorist Melissa Wilkinson will present work from her UnNatural Histories series opening March 11 at the Gallery of Art and Design at Metropolitan Community College’s Fort Campus.
Borrowing from 19th century naturalist illustrators like John James Audubon, Jacques Barraband, and Elizabeth Gould, Wilkinson collages internet-sourced images, creating seductive and suggestive surrealist pastiches. While her compositions are beyond reality, they maintain a purist dedication to the delicate craft of watercolor, an approach the artist endeavors to uphold while dismantling its associated elitism.
Conceptually, Wilkinson engages with the 21st century’s preference for everything slick and hollow, a hallmark of this technologically and dehumanized time period. Wilkinson too engages with technology to create her work, initially using digital processes to create her compositions, which she later executes by hand.
UnNatural Histories Series opens on March 11 and remains open until April 7. at Metropolitan Community College’s Gallery of Art and Design located on 829 N. 204th St., Elkhorn, NE 68022. Gallery hours are from Monday-Thursday, 9am – 8 pm, and Friday at 9 am – 5 pm. For more information, contact Carrie Morgan, gallery director, at clmorgan@mccneb.edu.