I had the opportunity to interview Melanie Brown, who has her studio on the third floor of the Lillstreet Art Center in Ravenswood. As a painter and printmaker, she is the Director of the Children’s Department at Lillstreet, where she also teaches painting and drawing in the adult program. She received her MFA at the American University in Washington, D.C., where she learned traditonal painting and painting from observation, and where she spent time wandering through the National Gallery observing the works of the great masters. Since that time, she has developed a unique style in her narrative subject matter while using traditional materials and techniques. As I approached her studio, I passed through a little corridor with high walls, showcasing her colorful paintings and charcoal drawings. In her studio, piles of drawings and paintings on paper were stacked aimlessly on the floor.

Dreamscape. Courtesy of the Artist.

ArtStyle: Could you tell me how you got interested in the subject of surrealism and dreams in your work?

Melanie Brown (MB): I’ve always had a very active dream life and tried to express dreams visually from an early age, and it has taken many years to develop the tools to freely paint from my imagination and memory. There has always been a grappling with things that scare me in my drawings — even as a toddler I would do automatic drawings that frightened me. My art is a way for me to come face to face with those things that scare me and put them in a place outside of my body.

ArtStyle: How do your drawings relate to your paintings?

MB: I work out a lot of my ideas with drawings first. For my dreams, I draw in the mornings with ink and try and get down the most salient memory from that night’s adventure. I then generate larger drawings from the dream drawings I’d like to explore. I also draw from memory when I experience something that causes an excess of emotion — fear, excitement, love, etc. When I can’t stand it bouncing around in my body, I need to get it out and take a look at it.

I like to work from a number of sketches when approaching a new painting. I never have it all worked out before hand, but I always have an anchor to start from, such as a color idea or image. I have to hold that first stroke of paint in my head to get going, and from there it becomes a relationship with the growing painting.

Crows. Courtesy of the Artist.

ArtStyle: Could you talk a little about the stories you create in your art?

MB: There is a narrative thread to my work, though I try and keep it open for both the viewer and myself. I have repeating characters, but I never have a chronological story in mind. I want a slow reading of my work, like the length of time it takes to interpret a complex dream.

ArtStyle: Could you describe your studio practices?

MB: Lately? It involves my falling asleep in my chair now that I’m growing another person inside me (she’s expecting in the Fall). But I’ve found that even when time is short, just showing up every day keeps my mind active even if there is a lull in physical production. I usually have large drawings and paintings that are in progress, but I also make one-shot drawings with ink and paint to explore new ideas.

I usually get something hot to drink — something caffeinated. Then I like to sit in my chair to look at the work in progress and let the hum of the studio take over. Painting is so immediate that I have to be completely present to make work that is any good. I’ve recently begun printmaking again and have really enjoyed the etching process. It slows everything down and requires a different kind of energy than painting.

I like to work on a painting daily. I don’t usually have a lot of paintings still waiting in the wings. I guess I’m kind of a serial monogamist when it comes to my work. Usually the relationships end amicably, but there are a few I’d ignore if I saw them in the grocery store.

Winston. Courtesy of the Artist.

ArtStyle: When I walked in, I was fascinated with this rat character, you refer to as Winston, with human fingers, eyes, and breasts protruding from the body. Could you talk about how this character came about?

MB: All right, the saga of Winston. It all began with a dream — a human mother (me) with six breasts calling her rat babies to her to feed, a very strong image that I began drawing and painting. Contrary to what people might think it was a beautiful and peaceful dream, not scarey like it would be in real life if one were suckling rats. As I explored the human/rat imagery, I remember seeing an image of a real human/rodent, one that had a human ear grown on its back. The imagery evolved into a definite character named Winston, and I began putting other body parts on his back besides just the ear. I was reading about one experiment of a human tooth being grown inside a rodent, and eventually the rodent was “sacrificed” to use the scientist’s own language. So I began thinking about Winston as a saint and began a series of him as St. Lucia with eyes on stems and plates, as well as on his back.

Crows. Courtesy of the Artist.

ArtStyle: I also really love this beautiful painting of crows eating baby birds. It’s such a horrific event but quite lovely with they way you have painted them and your use of color. Could you talk about this painting?

MB: The recent work was inspired not by dreams, but by an actual event I witnessed while walking my dog. I looked up and there were crows gathering on the roof of a house. I was curious, so I kept watching and saw a drama unfold. There was a nest of baby robins under the gutter of the house and the crows eventually swooped in and flew off with one of the babies and promptly began pecking it to death and eating it. The mother robin was on a rooftop just helplessly watching and the babies thought they were getting fed. I kept seeing their little mouths open as they stretched up toward their predators. It was horrible to witness, and I had to make some drawings about how much I hate crows. (I’ve been attacked and chased by a crow for about quarter of a mile in the past, so we have a history.) The amazing thing, though, is that I seemed to be the only witness of this drama even though there were a number of commuters walking home from the metra. I’ve always been aware that there are hidden worlds with epic dramas occurring right under our noses — plants strangling other plants, fights to the death among insects, even just fruit ripening and going bad, or metal rusting. There are stories all around us and I try to be open to them.

So that’s what I’m working on right now, and I’ve been making paintings and prints about the bird imagery. The event that acted as a catalyst is slowly fading as I react to the work and imagery itself through paintings and drawings.

ArtStyle: What type of message do you think your work is sending to the viewer and what do you want them to see?

MB: I try to keep my imagery so personal that it is open for interpretation. By keeping my imagery limited to the bare bones of my memory, the work can resonate with the viewer on a deeper level than if I spelled it all out in a
traditional narrative.

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