Melody has been a student a One River Clark for 4 years and in the Portfolio Development class for about 2 years. When asked if the Portfolio Development class has improved her art, and how, she said “Absolutely. I’ve gained a lot of practical techniques that I wasn’t familiar with before as wel as understanding better what is often found as captivating in a student portfolio.” Melody also feel the projects they have done helped her become more confident and comfortable in her skillset.

Melody’s Portfolio

Featured Piece: Baby no.3

“Growing up, I’ve never had a good relationship with food. It was more of a tedious necessity that I always had to take care of and always got scolded for. It was almost as if I could never get something as simple as eating food right, because it always resulted in me wasting food I refused to touch, getting yelled at for being so picky, or having comments be made on my body because, “No wonder she’s so skinny, she never eats anything.” All of these feelings culminated into my piece, which seems long overdue. It felt like finally coming to terms with something I usually avoided talking about. The main character in the center being completely lifeless, as though consuming the rot around her caused her demise. The pasta in the very center holds a lot of significance personally, as pasta has always been my “safest food” and I would choose eating it over anything else. It was a constant, and I wanted to portray that by giving it the same color palette as the girl. It gave “life” to a room full of decay. The food surrounding her was very fun, as disgusting as the research was. I’m a traditional artist at heart, but doing collage pieces and mixed media isn’t typically my norm. Actually, I got some inspiration to use different materials after assisting in Kids Art Shuffle classes. I saw some of the materials that the K-2 students were allowed for their landscapes and went “Damn, I’m kinda jealous, I wish I could use some of those things in my projects, too.” And I was then told “Why not?”, pretty good counter argument, because I’m thrilled over the result. I want my audience to look at it and for them to wanna puke, I want for them to be able to accurately experience how I feel towards food, what it looks like, and having to go through the same motions every single day. There was something so special about making it, but it always feels a little strange putting my whole heart on the canvas. It was also a little stressful because I knew I just had to make sure this gets into my portfolio before college deadlines are due, but I wouldn’t change anything about it. (For context behind the name “Baby no.3”: this piece is one from a collection of “babies” which refer to my pieces that I have strong feelings about, my other two being about my experiences with religion. These pieces really do feel like my children, hence the title.)”

-Melody