Bio
BIO
Melissa English Campbell (b. San Francisco, 1969) is a visual artist who places the intuitive act of painting in dialogue with the repetitive systems of weaving. By merging these two practices, she creates picture planes where structural and geometric patterns intersect with dematerializing painted compositions.
Her work is informed by a rootless upbringing, shaped by repeated shifts in language, culture, and place. Motivated by a search for belonging, Campbell develops a visual language through processes that both resist and support one another. Early exposure to European folk art and immersion in the cultural fluidity of European, American, and Mediterranean cities in the 1970s and ’80s continue to influence her eclectic palettes and hybrid approaches.
Campbell’s woven works - constructed with acrylic gouache, dye, yarn, a loom, and at times found objects - unite painting and weaving to map layered memories shaped by movement, caregiving, and cultural change.
ABOUT
Melissa English Campbell holds a B.S. in Environmental Design from the University of California, Davis, and an MFA in Studio Arts from Kent State University.
Her artwork has been exhibited globally, including at the Royal Albert Museum in the UK, Seoul, South Korea; Como, Italy; and New South Wales, Australia. Nationally, Melissa’s work has been shown at galleries such as The CAMP Gallery, Blue Spiral 1, Riffe Gallery, Woman Made Gallery, San Jose Museum of Textiles, Columbus Museum of Craft, New Bedford Art Museum, Museum of Texas Tech University; Petaluma Center for the Arts, Hand Weaving Museum and, Society for Contemporary Craft. She has also participated in the CAN Triennial in Cleveland, Ohio, The Other Art Fair in Chicago and her work has appeared in journals such as Surface Design Magazine and FiberArt Now. Campbell has participated in podcasts such as The NeedXchange, Artist/Mother Podcast and Hand Weavers Guild Textiles @ Tea. She is a recipient of the Award of Excellence from the Ohio Council for the Arts. Recent artist residencies include Vermont Studio Center, Praxis TC2 Residency, Berea College Artist Residency and The Chautauqua Institute Artist Residency.
Campbell currently lives and works in Northeast Ohio.
