| Facts/Data
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Birth
1963 (Brownsville, Texas)
Death
Lived/Active
Montana
Photo of Melanie Ann Alvarez
Often Known For
figurist
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
| The following is from the artist: Melanie Ann Alvarez,
Previously Known as: Melanie Alvarez-Catlin
BIRTH DATE/PLACE:
April 5, 1963, Brownsville, TX
STUDIO LOCATION: Stevensville, MT
SUBJECT FOR WHICH KNOWN: figure
STYLE OF WORK : realist
METHODS/MEDIUM: acrylic and charcoal
BIOGRAPHY
I
was born in Brownsville, Texas of Mexican and American heritage. My
formal art schooling began in Mexico at the prestigious Bellas Artes
and at the Instituto de Allende. Later, I attended the Glassell
Museum School and the University of St. Thomas in Texas. In 1988,
I received a Bachelor in Fine Arts in Painting from the Parsons School
of Design in New York City.
Since 1988 I have had numerous
exhibitions and have been collected nationally and
internationally. My artwork has been published, televised,
filmed, and awarded. I enjoy working in many different mediums.
My body of work includes paintings in acrylic, oil, watercolor,
gouache, tempera, pastel, and drawings in pencil. I sculpt with clay
for bronze and carve with marble, stone, and wood. I also make
prints using lithography and zinc plate etchings.
The Mexican
muralists, Diego Rivera and Siqueros have influenced my work as have
Orozco, Frieda Kahlo, and Tamayo. Additionally, I have found
inspiration in Francisco Corzos, Rudolfo Nieto, and Julio Galan,
Italian Francesco Clemente, and RC Gorman's interpretation of the
American Southwest.
Currently I am working on a new series of paintings using models and depicting aspects of their daily lives.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I
am painting the raw side of life, simplifying the human form as symbols
of pure emotion. I paint the figure interested by the human condition.
A person's spirit inspires me more; thus the usage of bright colors
which define life. Man's endurance and efforts to achieve higher and
more meaningful goals are what I strive to depict in the moment of
consciousness that he shows through choice or error. For me, truth is
beauty. A painting must have both to communicate with strength and
power, to evoke emotion in the viewer, to inspire growth and change and
acceptance of similar truths.
EDUCATION
BFA Painting, Parsons School of Design, New York City, New York 1984-1988
University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas 1981
Glassell Museum School, Houston, Texas 1981
Bellas Artes, San Miquel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico 1980
Instituto de Allende, San Miquel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico 1980
MUSEUM EXHIBITIONS:
Red Rock State Park Museum, Father-Daughter Show, Gallup, NM 1994
Two People Show, Primitive Fire, Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas, NV 1994
Taos Hispanic Arts Council Group, Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, NM 1990
BOOK AND PERIODICAL REFERENCES
"Montana Goes Hollywood," The Independent, Missoula, MT 23 March 2000.
Rick
Romancito, "Melanie Alvarez-Catlin Chosen as Taos Talking Picture
Festival "Poster Artist," The Taos News, Taos, NM, 25 Jan. 1996.
Mary Stephensen, "Alvarez-Catlin Puts it together," The Taos News Tempo, NM 1994.
Gaye Browne, "Red Rock Hosts Father-Daughter Show," The Gallup Independent, Gallup, NM, 2 Feb. 1994.
Gaye Browne, "Father-Daughter Artists Paint on Different Canvas," The Albuquerque Journal, Albuquerque, NM, 14 Nov. 1993.
Bob Mentzinger, "Alvarez-Catlin Pints Modern Indigenous Culture at Stables," The Taos News, Taos, NM, 11 Nov. 1993.
Bob Mentzinger, "Taos Invites Taos Show," the Taos News, 1993.
Willard
Scott, "Taos Film Festival Poster Artist" NBC-The today Show, 18 Apr.
1996 "Variant Gallery, Spring Arts," Albuquerque News, Taos, NM 1994.
"Emerging Artists," Southwest Art, Dec. 1996: P. 103
Edito Enrique Castillo-Pesadom, El Universal, Nuestro Mundo, Mexico City, D.F.,14 Aug. 1996
"Peculiar Prize," The Independent, Missoula, MT, 13 April 1998.
Deborah Baker A.P., " 'Out West', 'Town Gives of Itself for Festival's Prize
Film'," Missoulian, Missoula, MT, 12 April 1998.
"Contemporary Hispanic Artists," Southwest Art, Jan. 1997: P. 60.
"Take A Walk on the Artistic Side," Pastimes, Arts/Entertainment, Bonner County Daily Bee, 22 June 2000.
Edito Enrique Castillo-Pesado, El Universal, Nuestro Mundo, Mexico city, D,F., 15 June 1996.
Dan Oko, "A Painter's Past, A People's History," Missoula Independent, Missoula, MT, 3 Oct. 1996: 15.
Ginny Merriam, "McKee/Alvarez," Missoulian, Missoula, MT 4 Oct. 1996: E12.
Southwest Art, Oct. 1996: P. 64.
Southwest Art, Apr. 1996: P. 29.
Marnie Prange, "The Talk of the Town," Bitterroot Star, Stevensville, MT, 27 Sept. 1995.
Renee Phillips, "Portraits-Agora," Manhattan Arts Magazine Internt'l, NYC, NY, Nov-Dec. 1994
San Diego Art News, 1993: Summer Issue 9.
Artspeak, 1993: Summer 8
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
International Wildlife film Festival, Missoula, MT
North General Hospital, New York City, NY
Santa Fe Community College, Early Childhood Development Center, Santa Fe, NM
Taos Talking Pictures Film Festival, Taos, Mexico
Northern New Mexico Community College, Espanola, NM
Onate Monument Center, Alcade, MN
Rhythm and News, Mural, Stevensville, MT
Santa Fe SER Jobs for Youth Progress Building, Santa Fe, MN
Taos ARC Building, Taos, NM
Chili Willis Mexican Cantina, Mural, Huntington, WV
Homeward Bound, Missoula, MT
YMCA, Missoula, MT
Planned Parenthood, Billings, MT
RC Gorman, Taos, NM
Dan and Kelley Floyd Collection, MT
The Gary and Karen Winnick Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
The LA Zoo, Los Angeles, CA
Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA
Senta Productions, Hollywood, CA
Energy Room at The White House, Washington, DC
SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS
My work was featured in the movie "Frozen in Fear" starring Eric Roberts, Rod Steiger, and Catherine Oxenberg.
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