Born in Illinois, USA, Melinda Schawel received a BA in Fine Art and Communication from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1993 and a Postgraduate Degree in Printmaking from RMIT in 1996. She has exhibited regularly since 1995 and has been selected for a number of prestigious commissions including the Westin Hotel and the Park Hyatt. Her work has been published by Murtra Edicions in Spain and is represented in numerous collections including the National Gallery of Australia and the Royal Museum of Fine Art, Antwerp, Belgium.

Through the use of found objects such as old postcards and letters, Schawel has created her own visual language. Her most recent body of work, Full Circle, used old correspondence as the basis of works that explore and reposition her experience as an outsider living in the evangelical south of the US. Set on a backdrop of old collaged postcards, she created 'simple slogans, tips for the day, or life lessons for both my daughter and son, stripped of morality and fear and any mention of salvation, deliverance or redemption. [These] messages are tinged with references to my past, American popular/ consumer culture and the not so serious side of life.'

Melinda Schawel
www.melindaschawel.com