ARTIST INFORMATION

NAME: Melissa Staiger  
NATION: Cherokee  
ADDRESS    
TELEPHONE:    
EMAIL:    
WEBSITE: www.melissastaiger.com  
DISCIPLINE: Painter  
     
     

ARTIST STATEMENT

I channel color to create pulsating combinations. Experimentation with hues and surfaces pushes the work in constant new directions. Triangles, color, composition, and space are concepts I use to build a painting. These elements can be viewed as patterns, the natural world, direction, or the idea of balance. I paint intuitively with many layers and leave the under paintings as traces of the process behind.

 

ARTIST BIO

Melissa Staiger is a Brooklyn based non-objective painter of American and and Cherokee descent. Staiger received a BFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art and a MFA from Pratt Institute, NYC. She is represented by the transient Gallery Ell and Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, both located in Brooklyn. Her work is shown nationally across the country.

Staiger is strongly involved in the New York art community and is an active member of tART, a woman's art collective. She curates abstract art exhibitions to support artists. For more information go to www.melissastaiger.com.

Education
2003
MFA, Painting, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2000
BFA, Painting, Maryland Institute, College of Art, Baltimore, MD, cum laude
Exhibitions
2011
Vicariously Through You curated by Sarah Sense, Wilmer Jennings Gallery, NY, NY *Nancy Hubbard & Melissa Staiger, Gnarley Vines, Brooklyn, NY Group Show, The Place Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Painting Center Invitational Group Show, Painting Center, NY, NY Paper 2011, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Dinner Party curated by Anna Lise Jensen, The Brick House, Brooklyn, NY Flat Files, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2010
Gallery Ell Group Show, Loading Dock, Brooklyn, NY Drawing Closer to Nature, Lutheran Church of the Messiah, Brooklyn, NY What is in a Collective?, tArt at AIR Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Studio 2020, Roger Smith Pop Shop, New York, NY Traditional Traces in Contemporary Native American Art, Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery, Morristown, NJ Non-Objectif Sud Fundraiser, Robert Goff Gallery, NY, NY Brooklyn Arts Council Fundraiser, Bell House, Brooklyn, NY MICA Alumni Show, Spattered Columns Gallery, New York, NY Work on Paper, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Flat Files, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2009
Top Ten, curated by Lori Kirkbride, The Wit Gallery, Dallas, TX Green Roof Fundraiser, Chelsea Museum, NY, NY Year 5, curated by Janet Kurnatowski, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery tArt Salon Show, curated by Kat Griefen, AIR Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Forever Summer, Denise Bibro Fine Art Project Space, NY, NYNon-Objectif Sud Fundraiser, Gary Snyder Gallery, NY, NY Flat Files, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2009
Top Ten, curated by Lori Kirkbride, The Wit Gallery, Dallas, TX Green Roof Fundraiser, Chelsea Museum, NY, NY Year 5, curated by Janet Kurnatowski, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery tArt Salon Show, curated by Kat Griefen, AIR Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Forever Summer, Denise Bibro Fine Art Project Space, NY, NYNon-Objectif Sud Fundraiser, Gary Snyder Gallery, NY, NY Flat Files, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2008
*Luminescence, In Good Company, New York, NY Nurture Art 2008 Benefit, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY Summer Salon for tArt, The Rabbithole Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Flat Files, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2007
Visual Noise, University of Colorado Memorial Center, Boulder, CO Flat Files, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006
Poetry, Alexandria Symphony Orchestra Gallery, Alexandria, VA Color Concept, Janet Kurnatowski Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Common Denominator, Supreme Trading Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Surface Noise, ROOM, NY, NY
2005
Matzo Files, Lower East Side at Streits, NY
2004
Pratt Alumni Show, Fine Arts Office Gallery, NY Drawn, Lead Based Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Exvotos, Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY
2003
Collaborative Work - Melissa Staiger and Bryan Lynch, Pratt Institute, Pratt Graduate Gallery, Brooklyn, NY *MFA Thesis Show, Pratt Institute, Pratt Graduate Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Findings, curated online, www.findings.com Group Show, Williamsburg Art and Historical Society, Brooklyn, NY CAA Show, Hunter College, Times Square Gallery, NY
Curaorial Exhibitions
2010
Source, Co-Curated with Susan Ross, Powerhouse Projects/CUNY Center for Workers Education, New York, NY
2009
Patterns of Growth, Co-Curated with Susan Ross, Nurture Art, Brooklyn, NY
Panels
2010
Organized panel discussion with Source artists and Rossana Martinez, CUNY Center for Workers Education, New York, NY
2009
Moderated artist panel discussion with Co-Curator Susan Ross for Patterns of Growth, Nurture Art Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Awards
2010
Puffin Grant from Puffin Grant Foundation
Collections
2010
Doe Foundation
Bibliography
2009
Coffeen, PhD, Daniel, "The World Happening", catalogue essay for Luminescence: Paintings by Susan Ross and Melissa Staiger, November, 2008
Affiliations
Member of tArt, a professional woman's art collective, located in NYC, www.tartnyc.org Janet Kurnatowski Gallery's Flat Files, located in Brooklyn, NY, www.janetkurnatowskigallery.com Gallery Ell an on-line gallery and art collective, www.galleryell.com