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Melanie Birk
Lamy, New Mexico
www.melaniebirk.com
www.bluethistlearts.com

Employment
Founding Artist & Designer, Blue Thistle Arts, 2014-present.
Freelance Artist & Illustrator, 2008-2014.
Freelance Writer & Editor, 2000-2008.
Publications Director, Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, 1989-1998.
Assistant Director, Main Street Program, St. Joseph, Missouri, 1987-1989.

Education
Master's Degree in Journalism, Northwestern University, 1985.
Bachelor's Degree in English Literature, with Distinction, Carleton College, 1984.

Art Education
Surface Pattern Design class with British artist Rachael Taylor, 2014.
Painting Retreat with artist Flora Bowley, San Miguel de Allende, 
Mexico, 2013.
Collaging workshop with artists Jane Davenport and Teesha Moore, 2013.
Studied with artist Jaki Kouffman, Santa Fe Community College, Retreats in Taos and Abiquiu, New Mexico, 2003-2008.

Drawing, painting and pastel classes, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1995-1998.
Private illustration classes with author Jennifer Owings Dewey, Santa Fe, 2002.

Art Exhibitions & Fairs
Santa Fe Artists Market, regular exhibitor at juried shows, 2017.
Girls Inc. Arts & Crafts Fair, juried show in Santa Fe, 2017.
"Botanicals" international juried group show, Colors of Humanity Art Gallery, 2015.
"Abstraction Juried Show" Contemporary Fine Art International, 2015.
"Worlds Away" Linda Durham Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2009.
"Tikkun Olam" juried group show, Jewish Community Center, Tucson, Arizona.

Selected Publications
Frank Lloyd Wright & the Prairie, author, Universe/Rizzoli.
Frank Lloyd Wright's Fifty Views of Japan, editor, Pomegranate Books

Press
Where ART Lives Magazine, feature article on Melanie and Blue Thistle Arts, 2015.
Where ART Lives Magazine, illustration featured in Curated Collection, 2015.

Collections
Melanie's work is included in private collections throughout the U.S. and Canada.