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.
