Melanie Rose
Melanie Rose is Educated at Winchester School of Art, Trent Polytechnic, and Central Saint Martins and is currently in the final stages of a practice led PhD in the School of Design at the University of Leeds. The focus of her research is the landscape set within the South Downs National Park, explored through painting and walking. Melanie is a member of LAND2, a national network of artist/researchers with an interest in place-oriented art. She has exhibited widely and has work in both private and public collections.
In 2019 she walked the South Downs Way, from Eastbourne to Winchester, drawing, photographing and writing as she went. At the same time, she collated a unique collection of images of this landscape from pre-1750 to the present day. She returned to her studio and produced an extensive body of work through which she explores echoes of the past through contemporary painting, including themes such as tracks, traces, paths, and tumuli. Her work invites questions as to whether it is possible to re-envision the landscape of the South Downs through contemporary painting, raising questions for the present and future of the area in terms of access, biodiversity, farming practices and stewardship, arguments sourced, witnessed, and explored through walking and painting.
Education
2018 PhD practice-led University of Leeds, School of Design (fulltime researcher final year)
2011 PGCE University of Portsmouth
2000 - 2002 MA Central Saint Martins
1984 - 1987 BA (Hons) Fine Art Trent Polytechnic
1983 - 1984 Art Foundation Winchester School of Art
Exhibitions (Full list available)
2021 Facing Both Ways: Walking the South Downs Way through Painting City Space, Winchester
2020 Picture Palace Transition Gallery, London
2019 Sunday Times Water Colour Competition Mall Galleries (touring)
2019 Arborealists The Youngs Gallery, Salisbury (group exhibition)
2019 Phytopia Glynn Vivian Gallery, Swansea
2019 Bone Winter West Dean College of Arts and Conservation
2018 The Masters Screen and Stone Bankside Gallery, London
2018 A Case for Place, The Steel Rooms Gallery, Brigg
2017 The Moon and a Smile Glynn Vivian Gallery, Swansea
2016 Imagined Landscapes Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
2016 A Balancing Act Mottisfont NT Cellarium
2015 10 Days: Chalk Winchester Discovery Centre
2015 Drawing Breath St Johns Bethnal Green, London
2015 Drawing Breath The Manor, Hemingford Grey
2013 Landscape Art & Uncertainty Exhibition Southampton City Art Gallery
2013 Elemental Dialogues 10 Days Creative Collisions / Guildhall Gallery, Winchester
Helping Artists Keep Going
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