About Printmaker Mel Kolstad and Her Art
This show is called, “Journey through the Life of Tiny Plants,” and most works are 2″ x 2″ or much smaller! The etchings on the back wall are framed in vintage metal slide frames (for 35 mm slides).
How does she do it? Mel Kolstad is primarily a printmaker, etching her designs in acrylic and printing them with black ink. Once the print is dry, she goes in with watercolor paints and what must be the world’s tiniest brush, to paint them.
I asked Mel how she got into working so small. She says, “I’ve always been fascinated with miniatures – when I was a kid, I’d pore over stamp designs and spend hours reading books about dollhouses. I would also make accessories for my doll house figures, like magazines and food made out of salt dough. 🙂 When I first started creating art, I was doing ATCs (artist trading cards), which are 2.5″x3.5″ cards that you trade with others. So the small was built in from the start, which suited me perfectly!”
On the right wall, you can see a grouping of solar prints. Mel writes, “The solar prints were created with tiny plants I found in my backyard – we have a wooded lot so there are always little sprouts of plants popping up! Locust leaves are nice and tiny, too! 🙂 The solar ink didn’t really “stick” to the canvas, which made for an interesting “washed out” effect.”
On the left wall of the gallery, you can see collage works that are 6″ long. Mel says of these pieces, “For the collage pieces in my exhibit, I was inspired by Judy Pfaff’s “Year of the Dog” – they’re mixed media collage/prints she created at a residency at Tandem Press in Madison, and they’re 7 feet long! I wanted them to be “busy” so I layered them with many different papers along with my tiny drypoints.”
I asked Mel how she got started working so small. She says, “I’ve always been fascinated with miniatures – when I was a kid, I’d pore over stamp designs and spend hours reading books about dollhouses. I would also make accessories for my doll house figures, like magazines and food made out of salt dough. 🙂 When I first started creating art, I was doing ATCs (artist trading cards), which are 2.5″x3.5″ cards that you trade with others. So the small was built in from the start, which suited me perfectly! :)”
Find Mel at melkolstad.com and @melkolstadart
Find the gallery here on this site: elainelutherart.com/gallery/angelica-kauffman-gallery You can find the archive of prior shows and links to calls for art on that page. And on Instagram @AngelicaKauffmanGallery.
: ) Yes! Right up our alleys!
Thanks so much!
Yay! Another exciting tiny thing!