Meet Melissa Woodburn | Creating One-Of-A-Kind Sculpture In Ceramic And Fiber

We had the good fortune of connecting with Melissa Woodburn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Melissa, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?

I was one of those kids who was always drawing. There really wasn’t a time when I thought of doing anything OTHER than pursuing a creative career.

I picked out my college because it offered a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and had a list of art classes that sounded like heaven to me. I graduated with a BFA and concentrations in Graphic Design and Printmaking, with certification to teach Art K-12. I thought I was going to be an art teacher. However, due to an economic downturn the year I graduated, art programs in public schools were slashed. Since the teaching route was closed, I moved to Chicago and started a graphic design career. I found my niche in package design working for a series of small design firms who each had multiple clients ranging from Kraft Foods to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

By the time my husband and I moved to the West Coast and I was pregnant for the second time, I couldn’t face solving any more graphic design problems. (Graphic design didn’t seem very important when I was busy creating brain cells for another human being!)

During this time, I helped found and run a freestanding birth center in San Rafael, California, making a creative career of procreating: teaching mediation techniques for pregnant moms to use during labor, attending births as a spiritual midwife, or doula, and otherwise parenting my two babies.

However, I always missed creating fine art. It was never far from my mind. When my youngest child entered preschool, I got a little more creative space and was able to start drawing and painting again. When we lived under some messy long needle pine trees, I started using the downed and dry needles to make pine needle baskets. When my youngest started a neighborhood clay class at the local community center, I started one also, adding clay to my pine needle work in unusual combinations.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

I love learning new things, new techniques and new media. I see my creative process as a series of ever larger circles. As I discover new media or techniques, I’m constantly circling back to combine these with things I’ve learned in the past. I tend to work in series, discovering form and repetition, but always making one-of-a-kind objects.

During the Pandemic Years, there was never a time when I wasn’t creating. When all art shows and events were canceled, my art world definitely got smaller, but I kept going because I needed to. And I found that instead of spending so many hours out of my week in marketing my artwork, I had that time to just create with no input from anyone else. I really appreciated the time alone to work in my home studio.

During these years I created a series of oversized Bas-relief ceramic Tarot cards, which I call “Scenes From The Leporid Tarot.” As I worked on hand building these one at a time, it helped me ride out the wave of Pandemic isolation while I worked through themes of death, judgement, and spirituality. By the time the Pandemic was over, I had created 25 ceramic Major Arcana of my own Tarot deck!

I’d say the biggest lesson I have learned over my years as a fine artist is: Just Keep Going. When you feel like you’ll never have a creative idea in your brain again, just do something, anything, tiny or large. Just keep making and you’ll get your creative vibe back. Use your whole life as your creative story.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I’ve lived in the San Franicsco Bay Area for forty+ years. I LOVE it. I’m an outdoor lover so I would suggest visiting the beaches of Pt. Reyes National Seashore (Rodeo Beach, Limantour Beach, Drake’s Beach) and hiking any part of the Bay Trail that is closest to you. The Hamilton Bay Trail is in my neighborhood and I go there with my dog at least once a week.

We could come in the “back door” to Muir Woods National Monument by hiking down the trail from the Mountain Home Inn on Panoramic Highway. It’s a great place to see local Marin wildflowers, including Fetid Adder’s Tongue, and Sticky Monkey Flower and then experience the quiet of the redwoods in Muir Woods.

In San Francisco, I’d suggest hiking parts of the San Francisco Crosstown Trail. One section is full of beautiful mosaic stairways.

Also for more of a city vibe in SF, we’d want to visit the War Memorial Opera House and Davies Symphony Hall for ballet, opera and symphony in two gorgeous settings.

Back in Marin I’d want to take you to an art show at Sausalito Center For The Arts, Artworks Downtown, Falkirk Cultural Center or Marin MOCA. If you are visiting during the first two weekends in May, we’d be sure to get a map to over 300 Marin Open Studios at https://marinopenstudios.org/

There is great food around every corner in the Bay Area. Two of our neighborhood family favorites in Novato are Batika Indian Bistro and Maya Palenque (my number one place for fish tacos).

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have to give a shoutout to my husband, David Pell. We met in Graphic Design class in college and, while he took a more business route into graphic design and beyond, he has always appreciated and encouraged my need to circle back into the world of creative fine art. It’s hard to live as a fine artist, if you don’t have someone in your corner for support, both emotionally and financially.

Website: https://www.melissawoodburn.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissawoodburnart/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaWoodburnArt/

Image Credits
all photos courtesy of the artist