MELINDA ECKLEY

An Education

2011-12-28T11:09:00.000-08:00

AN EDUCATION
According to The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, only three percent of Americans are knowledgeable concerning foreign politics. This body of work presents these conflicts through the use of familiar educational iconography and materials that work together to transform the gallery into a classroom of a different sort. The collages utilize illustrations from 1950s educational primers that interact with modern day images of war, while playing upon the original format of letter cards. These characters cause the viewer to become more involved with the subject because they recognize the imagery involved in the scene. It has been found that American audiences due to their insular worldview do not respond with the sympathy needed for action to news concerning foreign politics unless the story predominantly features an element in which the audience recognizes their familiar. Each of these works is soaked in encaustic (beeswax) to perform the role of preservation. Just as wax is used in a hive to build walls – creating order out of chaos. Wax allows us to examine what we need to learn in order to pray and assist. In the sculpture, titled the “The Peace Desk” the viewer is encouraged to perform the active role of prayer. This desk while harkening to infamous tables where peace treaties are initiated, also functions as a repository for prayers, similar to the Wailing Wall or the collection of graffiti on the Berlin Wall. These objects while once ordinary in function become extraordinary due of their witness and act as a reliquary of marks/prayers made in the hope of peace. This final sculpture provides the viewer with the chance to pray and make a mark for peace.

Note on compositions: Each one of these letters is accompanied by a news brief concerning the country. The pieces are composed of vintage letter cards, AP photos pulled from the country, dick and jane images from elementary vintage primers and embroidery. The entire piece is covered with wax encaustic and measures 11.5×14.

This body of work has been shown at Union University in January of 2011 / Dyersburg State Community College in August - October of 2011.

Sitting up with the Dead Work

2011-04-11T15:02:00.000-07:00

Sitting Up With The Dead

2010-07-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

The latest show to hit Midtown Memphis’ still new but increasingly potent Gallery 210 is a collaboration between Chris Nadaskay and Melinda Eckley titled "Sitting up with the Dead"—according to them a distinctly southern tradition—a vigil over the recently departed. “Who’s passed?” one might ask. According to Nadaskay and Eckley it is modern culture’s place of archeological importance; it is the enforced expectations of heirlooms restricting the future, both individually and culturally. The show will exhibit a museum like atmosphere in an attempt to encapsulate the feeling that each piece is a “remnant of some future past”—excavated and historically meaningful. But what is it present-humanity culturally esteems, and how will its treasures be perceived when exhumed? What contribution, if any, will they make? Will they liberate, enlighten or impede? Nadaskay and Eckley are both artists of repute who have a local tradition. Both are professors at Union University; Eckley is also an alumni of Memphis College of Art. Nadaskay currently works in “mixed media/ceramic wall relief”; while Eckley creates sculptural installations. The show opens with a reception and artist lecture and runs from July 16 – August 15, 2010. The opening night reception (July 16th 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.) is open and free to the public. General gallery hours are from 9:00 a.m. – Noon, Monday thru Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Sundays. For more information please call (901) 377-3372.

Come One Come All to the FEAST

2010-01-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

Host: Material Art Space
Date: Friday, January 8, 2010
Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Street: 2553 Broad Avenue
Memphis, TN

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=2553+Broad+Avenue%2C+Memphis%2C+TN

for immediate release:
Contact: Hamlett Dobbins, 901.219.1943, hamlettdobbins@hotmail.com

Material is excited to announce its fifty-third exhibition: Melinda Eckley and Claudia Quintero: "Feast."

The exhibition will open with a reception for the artist on Friday, January 8, 2010 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. The exhibition will run from January 8 through January 30.

Artists Melinda Eckley and Claudia Quintero both come from rural backgrounds. Quintero is from the farmland of South Texas, while Eckley hails from the two-stoplight towns of Northern Michigan. The pair graduated in 2008 with their MFAs from Memphis College of Art. Quintero is currently a practicing artist and professor at Coastal Bend College in Beeville, Texas. Eckley is an assistant professor of art at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.

"Feast" is a gathering of images that reflect the impact of death, transition, and eventual renewal involved within a family unit at times of tragedy and loss. Exploring characteristics such as scavenging, picking apart, and outright betrayal in an enclosed space, this show strives to address the inevitable result of survival within family relationships through cyclical stages.

Material is located at 2553 Broad Avenue. Parking is available on both the north and south sides of Broad Avenue.

About Material: Founded by Hamlett Dobbins and Julie Meiman in late 2004, Material is a 19’ x 16’ exhibition space set in the storefront on Broad Avenue in the Binghamton neighborhood of Memphis. Taking the name from Montessori learning tools, Material was built to provide emerging and established artists with an intimate, clean space in which to share their work with Memphis’ growing arts community. The programming consists of monthly shows as well as artists’ lectures in connection with local colleges and universities. Material has served as a space for young artists to have their first shows, as well as a place for established local and regional artists to test new ideas in a public forum. In addition to serving local artists, Material has hosted artists from Birmingham to Tokyo. Come visit.

ATHICA

2009-02-05T09:42:00.000-08:00

I just have been accepted into a show in Athens, GA at the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art. Take a look.

http://www.athica.org/exhibitions.php

September 2009
News & Media (titleTBA)
Curated by Lizzie Zucker Saltz
Featuring Kathryn Refi's
All Things Considered project,
Excavation of Day an installation by
Melinda Eckley & Strike, a series of
altered NYTimes covers by Melissa Ho.
Others TBA

They have a great space!

IT'S OFFICIAL

2008-11-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

Well, after many many hours of countless working and slaving away in the studio and through over analyzation of process, I have finally been granted my MFA. On Monday I passed my orals and defended my thesis. Threeway is a threeway as well with all of us passing through candidacy to full "smart" status as Dwayne would kindly put it. Now, the question is where to go from here...

Threeway Show Approaching

2008-11-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

Here's the show card for Threeway...and yes it is a city...

Think Tank...Coming Down

2008-11-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

Well, I just heard that the Think Tank exhibit that I was in up at Murray State University in Kentucky had a lovely and warm reception at SVA conference in New York. The work was well-received and possibly might get picked up for a traveling show. Here's the piece that I installed for the show:

Thesis, shows and more...

2008-11-02T13:48:00.001-08:00

Well, the clock is ticking down and I still feel like there is too much to get done with so little time. I'm so very ready to be done with this chapter. I'm working to install next Monday and have a week to get things up, which I am so very grateful for. The defense is on the 17th so any thoughts and prayers you can send up would be much appreciated as I push to close this chapter with a good resounding...Yippee.

Also if you happen to be in the neighborhood. I have work up at the Firehouse Gallery for River Arts Fest in downtown Memphis. A lot of festivities going on down there with good Memphis food, music and art. Check it out at...http://www.mca.edu/Alumni_News/alumninews.html and http://www.riverartsfest.org/.

Another opening of my work at Northwest Mississippi Community College in Senatopia, Mississippi. The opening is Nov. 6th and lasts till the end of the month. Here's a bit from the release:

Graduate student art exhibition scheduled

by LaJuan Tallo | 10/27/2008

The November art exhibition at Northwest Mississippi Community College will feature a collection of works by graduate students from area universities, according to Lawayne House, art chair. "Getting Out" will feature works by students from the University of Mississippi, Memphis College of Art and the University of Memphis. The exhibition will be housed at the Northwest Art Gallery in the Art Building on the Senatobia campus.

The exhibition will kick off with an opening reception on Thursday, Nov. 6 from 6-8 p.m. The show will run through Nov. 28, House said.

Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.- 3:30 p.m. and admission is free. The Northwest Mississippi Community College Fine Arts Division offers classes in the fundamentals of Drawing; Painting; Ceramics; Art History; and Computer Graphics for individuals seeking opportunities for a career in the arts or for personal enrichment. For more information, contact House at 662-562-3399 or e-mail lhouse@northwestms.edu.

People watching in Charlotte

2008-09-03T07:40:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm currently waiting to board the flight in Charlotte for New York. Got to love wi-fi at the airport. Where were we with out it? People watching in the airport is always interesting. These days I feel bad for anyone with a passport because they are always automatically get "selectively screened." I love how we cloak our acceptance of all with the selectivity clause, which automatically targets those who are different. Unfortunately, I got up at the crack of dawn to catch a flight out of Memphis only to be stuck in Charlotte until late afternoon. I feel bad for the guy on the other end waiting to pick me up because I've been there - stuck waiting for the flight to come in. At least they fixed the pressure problem in the cabin now they've found a leak somewhere else. Why can't we just get a new airplane I don't know. For now I'll just people watch.

Starting the End

2008-08-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Well, only a few more months, till I'm free. I just put the final dot on my first draft of my thesis. I'm really excited about how it's taking shape after all this research. The more I find about this subject of industry of women's object and craft the more and more I am thinking it's going to take a book to get it all out - a thesis is a good start of that if I ever want to go this direction. We will see how the coming months shape up. It looks like they are going to be really busy. September is already looking packed to the brim as I just accepted another show and will be flying out to New York to install the first weekend in September. I'm hoping to squeeze in a night in New York with friends, but we will see how things pan out.

Teacher's Conference at MCA

2008-06-27T20:22:00.000-07:00

So the teacher descended to MCA this past week. It was a blast getting to know them. You can always tell an art teacher out of the crowd. I didn't realize it till I had to pick them up at the airport and train station. I didn't realize it but you really can pick us out of the crowd. We have our fun styles, our sandals, our great hats, cute long or super short hair. We also have an air about us — I think it's observance. Us watching you back.

The ladies stayed in the dorm throughout the week. I couldn't get over how quiet it was compared to students. I guess I'm used to the ruckus that comes with freshman at this point. I got take a few tours with them a few a dinners. I loved getting to hear their information about classes, students and horror stories mixed in with the good. A critique sandwich, as Miss Brenda would say. You put the good on the bottom, the hard stuff to swallow in the middle with the good stuff on top. I think there is so much to learn from these professionals. I think so often we forget the dynamics of the classroom as recent MFA grads and are sent to teach, to dispell information. We are not really prepped with these tools. Just told to go — go into the world and teach. There is an error to that which occurs in many classrooms, pushing students away from subjects that should be great and fun and would be if the professor was given the right equipment, time and motivation to learn a different way of approaching the system. Instead the system remains flawed because we refuse to realize that there might be something to learn from the "lower-grades."

To See the Lake

2008-06-27T20:18:00.001-07:00

So this coming week marks another year. Yikes. I really didn't have any problems with any of the numbers that lay before but at this point they seem to be inching toward 30. The closer they get the harder time I'm having letting them roll by. I'm working to adjust. It's going to be okay. If I can get to my grandmother's age of 85...everything you say is cute and funny. You tell everyone like it is. I guess I'm still at an age where people think too much about what we say. There's too many years between 25 and 85 of dialogue. We'll see if I take myself more seriously then. I doubt it.

Arrowmont

2008-06-22T15:18:00.000-07:00

Arrowmont was absolutely thrilling. The students were great. They accomplished a ton considering that it was only for a week. Nothing like a couple days of straight immersion dye to get the week off and running. Jenny was fabulous and the students loved her. The experience definitely reinforced my hope to teach after grad school.

Heading to the Mountains

2008-06-04T18:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm headed off to Arrowmont this weekend for a week away in the mountains. I've been going to Arrowmont since I was little. Peering in the glass cases and wondering how long it took that person to make all those brooms or cups. I won't be working on a broom or cup this time. I'm going to be helping out Jennifer Angus with repeat pattern printing, which should be interesting. I wonder if I'll end up having to hang a few bugs or if she will leave those at home. We'll see...

Go Towards the Poor & Hungry

2008-05-09T11:46:00.000-07:00

If you get a chance to gravitate out on this Friday night head over toward the light of the P&H. Jennifer Barnett-Hensel has a show opening up tonight that is going to be stellar. Check it out from 8 pm to whenever.

Decisions...Decisions...

2008-04-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

So I am wondering. What is the true difference and value of MacBook and MacBook Pro? I know that MacBook Pro is lighter and sleeker in designer and I believe has 40 GB more of harddrive space but is that all I am really paying an extra $500 for? All you Mac users any suggestions? I'm leaning toward a MacBook...my old one has lasted 6 years and is finally standing on its last leg, but I was just wanting to make sure that my decision might be valid. Let me know what you think.

Thesis Defense

2008-04-21T20:58:00.000-07:00

"Why didn't you go to the defense?" - Alex to Michael
"Because I'm offense." - Michael

Soap Installations

2008-04-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a preview of what I've been up to lately. These are composed of ivory laundry soap flocked on the wall.

A Little Procrastination Never Hurt Anyone

2008-04-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

My life has been sandwiched by studio or maybe it's been the other way around. Either way, I'm taking part of the day off to see some long lost friends. It's hard explaining that I still have a lot of requirements yet to finish up, but school is school. Only a week and a half to go till all projects are done and sealed up. I'm really ready for a break more than I ever was last year. I think part of it was working through spring break. No respite for the weary.

A New Beginning

2008-04-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the start of something new both in artwork and seeing what comes of a blog.