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Melissa Newman
My work aims for the space where the nostalgia, faultiness and mourning of memory overlap. I am interested not only in the fallacy of memory, but the fallacy of history and how we tell our stories. As a parent of a young girl, one wants to romanticize girlhood as a place filled with the tenderness of giggling secrets, braiding hair and spinning in dresses. However, whispering secrets turn from innocent and giggle-filled to trying to find ways to arm her against what will be coming for her as she ages. My work has expanded to consider the stories we tall each other on a larger scale, especially as it pertains to our shared history. My intention is not to point directly, but to evoke a sense of comfort balanced with unease.
"Helen Kearney" mixed media collage on paper, 14x11" 2025
Melissa Newman is an educator and Mixed Media artist originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee. She holds an MA and MFA in Painting from the University of Iowa (2003, 2004). Her work has been exhibited in various venues across the country and in 2006 she completed a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She has taught Foundations and Painting classes at Middle Tennessee State University since 2008. Her work includes abstract paintings and mixed media collage that explore the overlap of nostalgia, collective memory, and the expectations of femininity.
Melissa Newman
My work aims for the space where the nostalgia, faultiness and mourning of memory overlap. I am interested not only in the fallacy of memory, but the fallacy of history and how we tell our stories. As a parent of a young girl, one wants to romanticize girlhood as a place filled with the tenderness of giggling secrets, braiding hair and spinning in dresses. However, whispering secrets turn from innocent and giggle-filled to trying to find ways to arm her against what will be coming for her as she ages. My work has expanded to consider the stories we tall each other on a larger scale, especially as it pertains to our shared history. My intention is not to point directly, but to evoke a sense of comfort balanced with unease.
"Helen Kearney" mixed media collage on paper, 14x11" 2025
Melissa Newman is an educator and Mixed Media artist originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee. She holds an MA and MFA in Painting from the University of Iowa (2003, 2004). Her work has been exhibited in various venues across the country and in 2006 she completed a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She has taught Foundations and Painting classes at Middle Tennessee State University since 2008. Her work includes abstract paintings and mixed media collage that explore the overlap of nostalgia, collective memory, and the expectations of femininity.