Melissa Harshman
Melissa Harshman received her MFA from the University of Wisconsin- Madison in 1992. She has been teaching printmaking at the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia since the fall of 1993. She was the Chair of the Printmaking Department from 2000-2004 and is currently the Graduate Coordinator. Harshman served as Treasurer for the Southern Graphics Council, the largest printmaking organization in the United States from 2004-2006.
Harshman’s recent paintings and prints are conceived with sketches made on the computer. Images begin by scanning from sources such as dictionaries, children’s workbooks, coloring books or other eclectic material. The piece is then layered with a variety of text and other images that create new meanings in the final work. If the idea is to be made into a painting, the image is translated to canvas using acrylic paints and collaged layers. If the final product is to be a print the image is either separated into four-color separations and printed via traditional lithographic methods or hand drawn on films and printed in serigraphy. Some of the images are completely whimsical while others have underlying political content. Harshman states, “My goal is to create work that is aesthetically pleasing as well as conceptually significant.”
Harshman has exhibited widely throughout the United States and abroad. Recent shows include solo exhibitions at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy, Anchor Graphics in Chicago, IL, The Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art in Augusta, GA, the Firehouse Gallery in Louisville, GA and Gainesville College in Gainesville, GA. Her work has also been seen in Cape Town, South Africa in conjunction with the Impact 3 Printmaking Conference, online in conjunction with the International Conference on Information Visualization and Graphics IV in London, England, the “New Acquisitions” exhibitions at the Asheville Museum of Art in Asheville, NC and the Frans Masereel Centrum in the permanent collection exhibition in Kasterlee, Belgium. Her work was included in the SIGGRAPH 2004 Art Gallery in Los Angeles, CA and most recently in the 18th Annual Los Angeles Printmaking National in Los Angeles, CA as well. Recent awards include a Senior Faculty Grant from the University of Georgia as well as a Juror’s Award in the Boston Printmakers International Juried Exhibition. In October of 2003 she was invited to create a print at the UNO Print Workshop in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2004 she traveled to the Frans Masereel Centre in Belgium for an artist residency as well as Flying Horse Editions in Orlando, Florida. Upcoming exhibitions include a solo show at Southwestern Missouri State University.