melissa anderson—

    • 2021: “Historical Fiction: Faces of Claussen's Bakery,” SIFT Gallery at McMillan, Pazdan & Smith, Greenville, SC

    • 2015: “Elegance of Native Soul,” Mitchell Hill Gallery, King St., Charleston, SC

    • 2014: “Hidden Treasures: Landscapes of South Carolina,” Greenville Chamber of Commerce.

    • 2014: “Peach Blossoms on HWY 11,” Office of Congressman Trey Gowdy, Washington DC

    • 2013: “My Muse - Inside the Studio,” Art & Light Gallery, Greenville, SC

    • 2011: “Works by Melissa Anderson,” Centre Stage, Greenville, SC

    • 2011: “Colors of My World,” Chamber of Commerce, Greenville, SC

    • 2010: “Cocktails & Art,” Artist in Residence, Greenville, SC

    • 2009: “Colors of My Palette,” Artist in Residence, Greenville, SC

    • 2023: Pickens County Museum of Art & History Juried Exhibition - 2nd Place Award

    • 2023: Union County Arts Council Juried Exhibition - Nancy Lewis Wilburn Award

    • 2022: Greenville City of Women Juried Exhibition, GCCA Community Gallery, Greenville, SC

    • 2021: Artists of the Upstate Juried Exhibition, MAC for Artisphere, Greenville, SC

    • 2016: “Artists Touched by Carl Blair,” Metropolitan Arts Council, Greenville SC

    • 2016: “KÄR’Ne-VeL: A Celebration of Artistic Revelry,” Greenville Center for Arts

    • 2014: “The Seed Fairy Comes,” Art & Light Gallery, Greenville, SC

    • 2013: Artists of the Upstate Juried Exhibition, MAC for Artisphere, Greenville, SC

    • 2012: Women Painters of the SE, Juried Exhibition, Corse Gallery & Atelier, Jacksonville, FLA

    • 2011: “FROM A to V: Anderson & Verhoeven,” Merge at Innovate, Greenville, SC

    • 2011: “Flat Out Under Pressure,” Metropolitan Arts Council, Greenville, SC

    • 2010: “A Portrait of Greenville,” Greenville County Museum of Art, SC

    • 2010: “Greenville Seen,” Metropolitan Arts Council, Greenville SC

    • 2010: Artists of the Upstate Juried Exhibition, Centre Stage, Greenville, SC

    • 2010: 12 x 12, Metropolitan Arts Council, Greenville, SC

    • 2010: “Flat Out Under Pressure,” Metropolitan Arts Council, Greenville, SC

    • Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC

    • University of South Carolina School of Law, Columbia, SC

    • Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, Concourse B

    • Furman University, Greenville, SC

    • South Carolina Supreme Court, Columbia, SC

    • Prisma Health System, Clemson University School of Nursing, Greenville, SC

    • Office of Congressman Trey Gowdy, Washington, DC (2014-19)

    • The City of Greenville, Office of Mayor Knox White

    • Joan Herlong & Assoc., Sotheby’s International Realty, Greenville, SC

    • Grimes, Teich, Anderson, Asheville, NC

    • County Bank, Greenville, SC

    • Kent Worldwide Development

    • BDV Solutions, Greenville, SC

    • McCall House, Simpsonville, SC

    • The Cascades, Greenville, SC

    • Greenville High School

 

Melissa grew up with parents who lived by the mantra, “I can do that.” She remembers coming home to see her father, an ad agency owner by day, in work clothes standing in the middle of what used to be the kitchen. Walls were removed and the stove now floated in the middle of the floor. Wanting a lake house, her parents gathered family and friends and began to build. Protocol was important, sure, but not as much as the process. And yes, eventually, both the kitchen and lake house were completed.

This transitional feeling—full of gumption, grit, and creativity instilled by her parents—fueled Melissa. She lived to learn and pursued her academics to initially become a lawyer. She loved the challenge and the process. Yet an artist was within.

One night she ventured into a painting class at a museum, and left brain legal skills nurtured by right brain creativity, became the canvas for the people, places and things inside. 

Much like our own lives, Melissa’s work is a layering process of experiences, dreams, memories, and emotions. Her paintings are a reflection of the South, with all its beauty and contradictions. Roadside tobacco stands, blue hydrangeas, or the pageantry of horse races in Tryon and Camden. Sometimes her artwork flows quickly together. Yet most of the time, she is waiting. Adding. Subtracting. Listening. Listening for the nostalgia that speaks to her southern soul.

Her work has been featured in the Greenville County Museum of Art, The University of South Carolina School of Law, The City of Greenville, Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, and Clemson School of Nursing.

Watch and learn about Melissa Anderson’s process and inspiration:

“The things that we collect as we travel to, and grow up in, places such as these begin to form a still life in our periphery that speaks to our heart and soul. The objects and settings that you view in my paintings speak to my southern soul.”
— Melissa Anderson