With a background in scientific illustration, Melissa Wagner's work uses a variety of methods and media to engage the natural world and illuminate its earthly remnants. A disparate falling of leaves, scattered branches, crushed shells, and dried ferns, emerge from a paintings surface to create organic three-dimensional works that incorporate intense color, texture, and a perpetually changing surface. Through her work, Melissa strives to examine and magnify the disguised processes that envelope the living world while addressing issues concerning reproduction and the environment. Mixing the products of nature themselves with glossy synthetic resin coats, Melissa playfully composes her vision of a world that harnesses natural subjects to construct new models where art, earth, science, and wonder intersect. Melissa draws he inspiration from her love of nature and extensive local and global travels. Originally from Detroit, Melissa has spent the past 10 years in San Francisco and now calls the West Coast her home. Her work has been shown in galleries, restaurants, corporate offices, clubs, and retail stores which include Mandalay Bay, SomArts, The Canvas and Wells Fargo, and is part of collections in Germany, New Zealand, Ireland, and extensively through out the United States. She has participated in San Francisco Open Studios for the past six years, completed a residency at the San Francisco Legion of Honor and De Young Art Center, and recently organized and opened Clara Street Studios in SOMA. She is involved with many projects including the Maitri AIDS Hospice, several mural projects within the Bay Area, and ArtSpan, where she has been an active volunteer with the non-profit organization for over 8 years working on graphic design, signage, marketing and event planning.

TAMA GREENBERG's Artist Statement

“My artwork (paintings and monotypes) is composed of 3 elements with varying emphases: texture, color, and image. My basic medium is acrylic paint. Texture comes from the paint application and collage.  Imagery swings from cerebral landscapes to figurative to organic forms to abstraction. I combine predominantly bright colors with contrasting dark or muted tones to achieve a more complex effect, with transparent layers of unmixed paint used to create more intense colors. Color is very personal. I generally use colors that please me.

But I also approach art as a child, playing with color and shapes spontaneously, much like a large doodle, without a specific subject in mind.

Art to me is pure pleasure, the process being as important as the result.”

I paint or draw from the way I perceive composition, texture and color.

My environment, whether on vacation or at home, inspires me to change or alter images on paper or canvas.

I paint watercolors often from my travel photographs or I create acrylic abstracts from my imagined images.

My paintings are dated approximately from 2000-2012. The price range is $300-$2000.

I believe in making the most of my hands, therefore I weave, knit or embroider. Being able to touch is very important to me and I love tactile items. I always encourage people to touch my work. I intertwine my energy of recycling/reusing with emotions, experiences, observations and conversations. Majority of the items I use, are gathered from various places, situations and people. My theory is, every discarded item has another use before it gets tossed into our over flowing landfills. With that theory, I see it as my responsibility to see items are reused, just as items are recycled in the blue bins. Depending in the mood or mode I am in, I'll weave, knit or embroider just about anything. I see many different possibilities in the future. I also, see many different possibilities in one item.