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Melissa Walker | Carolina Bronze Sculpture
[Perma Link]Melissa Walker | Carolina Bronze Sculpture
Q: You have been teaching art for many years. What is your background and what do you love about teaching?
I've been doing art all my life. I went to college at East Carolina University and majored in art. My husband, Ed who is also an artist, also went to school at ECU. Afterward, I went to graduate school at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. I'm not teaching anymore, but I taught mainly high school art at Randleman High School. What I love about teaching high school students is you can talk to them on an adult level and they are much smarter than some people give them credit for. If you show interest in them and they feel respected, they can do some really serious art. I love seeing my former students, and I love knowing that I have made a difference in some of their lives. It's really great.
Q: What type of painting do you do and do you have any preferences in color or style?
I'm mostly an abstract expressionist painter. That type of work is my favorite because of its structure and spontaneity. Having said that, there is ironically a lot of planning that goes into a painting just to make it appear random. It's actually more difficult for me to do this type of work than it is to do realism. I like to use nautical maps in my abstract paintings and turn them into what looks like a landscape with a birds-eye view. As for colors, I love greens and blues, but I use the full spectrum of colors in my work.
Q: What do you at Carolina Bronze, and what do you like about it?
Carolina Bronze Sculpture is a fine arts bronze foundry. We specialize in bronze casting, fabrication, and digital enlarging. It's one of the premier foundries in the country. I love sculpture and I love art but here as opposed to teaching, I love to come up with my own plan of action. There are no step-by-step instructions like there are in teaching. I can be creative in my own way and like Ed has always said, "just do it."
Q: What are some of the other projects you are working on that excite you?
We are in the midst of opening a sculpture park here with a pond and a nice walking trail that will showcase many of North Carolina's wonderful sculptors. We will have some renowned artists and we look forward to this park growing over the years. We also always look forward to the Tri-State Sculptures Conference each year. It's a conference that is designed to meet the needs of sculptors and educators working in a variety of 3-D media including metal, glass, stone, fibers, mixed media and of course clay. It's a wonderful way for artists and people to network and learn.
Q: What do you like most about Seagrove?
I love being in the center of the state. Our location makes it so easy to get to the mountains and the beach or even state to state. In addition to Ed & I being artists ourselves, we are also collectors of pottery and there's no better place to be for that than right here!