Melissa paints entirely with her fingers - no brushes!
For the last two decades, New England-based artist Melissa Scheid Frantz has been painting with only her fingers - no brushes - to create vibrant oil paintings. It’s the only way she can reveal the intimate interaction and conversations between colors. Her artwork has been inspired over the years by her international travels, as well as her own backyard of verdant mountains and trees. Melissa is not only driven by creating colorful works of art, but also by creating social change. During the last twenty years, Melissa has supported and empowered marginalized communities in various educational and work contexts. Her recent artwork reflects this important aspect of her life.
-Inquire for purchase of original paintings, commissioned art, or other requests for the artist.
On view now at the Hopkinton Center for the Arts - juried exhibit “Arts in Bloom” April 23 - May 23, 2024
Selected Group Exhibitions and Representation
“Arts in Bloom” - Hopkinton Center for the Arts, Hopkinton, Massachusetts; April - May 2024
“Stronger” - Aplomb Gallery, Dover, New Hampshire; November 2021 - February 2022
“Community Small Works Exhibit” - Sawmill River Arts, Montague City, Massachusetts; August 2021
“Creative People Leading Climate Action”- Augusta Savage Gallery, UMass Amherst, Digital Exhibition on view April 16 - June 30, 2021
“Created Equal” - Arlington Center for the Arts, September 25, 2020 - January 15, 2021
“Showing Up: for Our Neighborhoods, Our Communities and Each Other” — Berkshire Art Association Biennial Show; The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, Pittsfield, Massachusetts; juried art show, October - November 2018
"Restructured" -- Nave Gallery Annex; Somerville, Massachusetts; juried art show, November - December 2017
"Nonobjective NOW: New England Artists Explore Abstraction" -- Davis Art Gallery; Worcester, Massachusetts; juried art show, September - December 2017
“Portrait” -- Trescott Gallery; Taunton, Massachusetts; juried art show, January 2016
"Small Works Exhibition" -- Porter Mill Gallery; Beverly, Massachusetts; juried art show, December 2014
“01301: Art by, for, and about Greenfield”-- Greenfield, Massachusetts; juried art show by the Greenfield Local Cultural Council, October 2012
The White House Inn -- Wilmington, Vermont; 2012
Young & Constantin Gallery — Wilmington, Vermont; 2005 - 2012
Exhibition at Grafton – Grafton, Vermont; juried art show, August - September 2007
Windham Art Gallery — Brattleboro, Vermont; 2001 - 2006
Battelle Harding Gallery — Greenfield, Massachusetts; December 2003 - April 2004; invitational show, October 2003
New England Bio Labs — Beverly, Massachusetts; two-person show, January - February 2004
Object Image Gallery — Brooklyn, New York; 2002 - 2003
Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires — Lenox, Massachusetts; 2003
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Works Bakery Cafe -- "Take a Seat," Brattleboro, Vermont; July 2013
Baystate Franklin Medical Center -- Greenfield, Massachusetts; Fall 2010
Cell Signaling Technologies -- Danvers, Massachusetts; Fall 2008
Tusk 'n' Rattle Cafe — Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts; April 2006 - January 2008
CHA Gallery — Cambridge, Massachusetts; October – December 2006
Main Gallery — "Vietnam Terraces," Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts; January 2006
Geissler Gallery — "(Re)Turning to Vietnam," Stoneleigh-Burnham School, Greenfield, Massachusetts; September – October 2005
Awards and Residencies
Artist Residency — Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont; June 2004
Norm Krampetz Scholarship recipient, Windham Art Gallery, 2002
Reviews
The Valley Advocate by James Heflin, January 12, 2006
The Keene Sentinel by Marianne Shaughnessy, June 3, 2004
Art New England by Diana Lischer-Goodband, December/January 2003
Brattleboro Reformer by Diana Lischer-Goodband, July 25, 2002
Collections
Foraker Labs — Boulder, Colorado
Meditech — Canton, Massachusetts
Publications
Course catalog cover art, Green Mountain Academy for Lifelong Learning, winter 2010