Critique Sessions (RSVP)

Join us for a 2-hour critique session facilitated by an art professional. These sessions are designed to foster a platform, which will provide artists a way to talk about his/her work and to seek unexplored creative avenues.

Each participant is expected to bring 2-3 works. Each artist will introduce themselves, talk a little bit of their art and their artistic goals. Next steps may be directly related to their art, potential exhibition or networking opportunities, and/or further skill building.

Date: March 13 from 7 to 9pm.

About Melissa Dorn Richards

Melissa Dorn Richards started life on an Air Force base in Anchorage, Alaska, and spent her formative years in West Bend, Wisconsin. After bouncing around to different colleges, she moved to Milwaukee to attend the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, and received her BFA in 1996. Since graduating she has maintained a strong studio practice, worked with Milwaukee youth through Arts@Large and Artworks for Milwaukee and has become a leader in the local arts community primarily through the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network (MARN). Dorn Richards is also a resident artist at the Mandel Group Creative Studio directed by Plaid Tuba, located in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward.

Select exhibitions include: New Works, Gallerie M Intercontinental; Indiana Green, Juarez Invitational; Eight Counties, John Michael Kohler Arts Center; Artist Marketplace, Milwaukee Art Museum; Around the Coyote Festivals, Chicago; Art Chicago, Hotcakes Gallery; Aqua Art Miami, Hotcakes Gallery; and Impromptu, Cedar Gallery. Dorn Richards is represented by EFFJAY PROJEKTS, Sheboygan, and The Leigh Gallery, Chicago.


Artist StatementHer current work focuses on creating bold, abstract oil paintings. On the surface, they are simple, strong shapes and confident colors; to look deeper into her work is to discover her warmth, depth and humor. Dorn Richards has introduced shapes cut from "recycled" black velvet paintings, most found on eBay, into her work. She enjoys the feeling of collaboration with the unknown artist, and the repetition and texture of the cut pieces. There is rarely angst in her work. More likely you'll find a gestural almost human quirkiness in her shapes and a certain pleasure in their simplicity.


Salt Pile XIII, oil and velvet on canvas, 2011
Click here to see more of Melissa Dorn Richards work.