News

Happy to share that More Thought Work was acquired by Schneider Museum of Art!

I’m excited to share that this painting was collected by Google. They framed it.

Mel Prest: The Golden Hour at the Schneider Museum of Art

I’m thrilled to announce my (first) solo museum show at the Schneider Museum of Art, in Ashland, Oregon. The show runs October 6- December 10, 2022. The exhibition catalog is available here, with an essay by John Yau. You can also download a digital catalog here.

Grateful for the thoughtful review. Click here or the image below to read more.

Quick look at my solo show, Time is Knots on a String, May 2022 at Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX

Raven Talk, 60x60x2 inches and Aurora, 60x60x2 inches are two works on view at The Mills Building, curated by Kerri Hurtado for Berkeley Art Center. On view through 2/22.
*Image credit: Francis Baker Photography*

I’m excited to share a review of my show for Visual Art Source. Mel Prest, "Color Unfolding" by DeWitt Cheng

Installation view of Color Unfolding, solo show at K Imperial Fine Art, San Francisco July 15- August 31, 2021

Prest_WindTelephone_2020_12x12x2_micaceous+metallic_acrylics_wood_panel.jpg — Color Play, presented by Garvey|Simon is on view in New York. Click the image to read more about the show.

I’ll have a small painting in the de Young Open Exhibit, which runs Saturday, October 10, 2020- January 3, 2021. Click the image to see more.

MCPrest_untiltled(TimeIsKnotsOnAString2)_2020_28x22in_micaceous watercolor on 300lb Fabriano.jpg — **New Studio Works**
I’m excited about new works I made while my studio was closed due to the pandemic and I worked on watercolors from home. This series, titled “Time is Knots on a String”. These are micaceous and mineral watercolors on 300lb Fabriano hot press watercolor paper, 28x22 inches. The work is inspired by the structure of time outside capitalism. I was deeply inspired by a segment titled A Brief History of Timekeeping from On the Media podcast.

My husband, Andrew Kleindolph and I, had our first collaborative show and installation this summer at The Great Highway Gallery. We did a huge window installation with my biggest wall drawing yet. If you click the image and visit Andrew’s site you can see more about the show.

I'm excited to be included in this group show with Alfa gallery, running October 21-November 29, 2020. The show is held online at Artsy. Click the image to see more.

Installation at Marin General

Sneak peek of my site-specific glass piece that interprets the scents and colors of California wildflowers. Here is a short video of the wall drawing upon which the glass panels will float.

Willapa Bay Residency

I’ll be returning to Willapa Bay in August 2021 after my first visit in 2015.

Bullseye Projects Residency

This fall I’m honored to be an artist in residence at Bullseye Projects, where I have the opportunity learn how to work in glass. You can learn more about their programs on their website and be sure to follow me on Instagram for updates on what’s happening throughout the residency!

Crocker Art Museum

My work is currently on display at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA.

Rainbow Weather

Mel Prest, Rainbow Weather, 2019, wall drawing and acrylic on panels, 128 x 140 x 1 ⅝ inches.

Chandra Cerrito / Art Advisors is pleased to present Rainbow Weather by Mel Prest, the inaugural edition of our Commissioned Art Program, on view April 5 - May 24, 2019.

Mel Prest's work is inspired by naturally occurring light phenomena. Rainbow Weather, her new installation and one of her largest works to date, plays off moments of clarity, obscurity and high drama she sees in the sky. Rainbow Weather utilizes and expands on a series of 5 x 5 x 2" paintings on panel Prest made over the past few years, which have never been shown. Using these panels and their colors as a starting point, she created a large wall installation designed specifically for the space. The new work incorporates several different structures: single panels, grouping where colors and internal forms play off one another, and "ladder" shapes (28 panels hung in 2 parallel lines). Prest has composed clusters of seemingly monochrome panels, though most have their sides painted, and some have low contrast colors painted on the surface. Rainbow Weather also includes a hand-drawn wall painting in pale yellow that rests under the panels, shifting in visibility as viewers move around the piece. This is the first time Prest has shown a wall drawing and painting panels together as a single installation.

View installation

Recent Acquisitions:

Victorian Box/Mock Orange acquired by Berkeley Museum of Art

Sun Cloud acquired by Mills College Art Museum

Blue Morning Glory acquired by the Crocker Museum of Art

Prest_SunCloud_2018_acrylic+on+panel_60x60x2inches_10,000_.jpg

The Possibilities of Line

McKenzie Fine Art

55 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002

group show on view 6/21-8/18/2018

lux

solo show at Galleri Urbane, Dallas

May 12 - June 14, 2018

View the work

Flower Power

March 29 – April 28, 2018

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 29, 6 - 8 pm

Garvey Simon, 547 West 27th St., Suite 207, New York, NY 10001

A group exhibition featuring works by six contemporary artists who explore flora in a wide range of media. This first-ever show co-curated by Ellen Hackl Fagan and Elizabeth Garvey combines artists from their respective programs.

Artists include: Christopher Adams, Jackie Battenfield, Daisy Craddock, Sally Gil, Mel Prest, and Sung Won Yun.

East Cut Art Fair

January 12-14, 2018

See my work with Chandra Cerrito Gallery at the East Cut Art Fair.

January 13, 10-7pm | January 14, 11-5pm

A boutique pop-up art fair, called The East Cut Art Fair, will take place in a 3,000 foot retail storefront at 160 Spear, just south of Market Street in mid-January 2018. Timed to coincide with the two major international fairs, Fog Design + Art, and Untitled, San Francisco, which will be held over the same weekend, The East Cut Art Fair will feature contemporary art that has been curated by four Bay Area art galleries, all under one roof. Participating galleries include Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, George Lawson Gallery, Seager Gray Gallery, and SLATE Contemporary.

About Abstraction: Bay Area Women Painters

September 24 – December 17, 2017

Bedford Gallery, 1601 Civic Dr., Walnut Creek, CA, 94596

While Bay Area art history is rooted in figurative art, the past few decades show us that abstract art is flourishing. The work in About Abstraction suggests a kinship with the Abstract Expressionist movement of 1940s SoHo and San Francisco, and illustrates the enduring vitality and power of nonrepresentational art for well over a century.

Participating Artists:

Lorene Anderson, Eva Bovenzi, Donna Brookman, Heather Day, Amy Ellingson, Linda Geary, Rebekah Goldstein, Emanuela Harris-Sintamarian, Danielle Lawrence, Naomie Kremer, Michelle Mansour, Alicia McCarthy, Mel Prest, Cornelia Schulz, Michele Théberge, Canan Tolon