ABOUT

Melinda Schawel is an American/Australian artist living & working in Melbourne (Naarm), Australia. She received a BFA from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1993 and a Postgraduate Degree in printmaking from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1995, and has explored a diverse range of media including metal, wood and most recently, clay. Paper continues to be her primary focus, however, and her unorthodox approach to this medium is both physical and intensely personal. Through the meticulous techniques of engraving and perforation, she pushes the boundaries of the medium, and in some instances completely transforms the surface, whilst retaining an illusion of effortlessness and fluidity. 

As arts writer Elli Walsh describes: ‘With scalpel in hand, Schawel methodically tears the surface of heavy gauge paper, piece by piece, until a form emerges, taking its own organic path beyond the artist’s control. A lyricism inhabits this act of peeling layers and shedding surface; a dance between control and unpredictability..an engraving tool is utilised to drill into sections of the paper, which by contrast is more controlled and symmetrical, choreographing depth by casting shadows. Some painted forms recede in the pictorial space as others approach the surface, threatening to drift off the paper and dissipate into the atmosphere. These optical manoeuvres of energetic shapes and textures create the sense that the works are in flux, forever evolving.’

Schawel has exhibited widely in her adopted country of Australia with over 20 solos under her belt and internationally in Hong Kong, Zurich and Singapore. She has been a finalist in a multitude of art prizes including most recently, the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize 2024, the Adelaide Perry Prize for Drawing 2024 and the WAMA Environmental Art Prize 2023. She has completed numerous art residencies from La Fundacio Pilar i Joan Miro in Spain to the Art Vault in country Victoria to the Franz Masereel Centre in Belgium. She was recently featured in Arts Hub, has been interviewed by the late ABC TV presenter Jill Singer as well as comedian/activist Mandy Nolan, and featured in various publications such as Artist Profile Magazine and the Canberra Times. She has been commissioned for many residential projects here and abroad, including a Tokyo project with Mori Bldgs in 2023 and her first integrated public artwork for the City of Casey in 2020. She is represented by Flinders Lane Gallery in Melbourne, Hill Smith Art Advisory in Adelaide, Beaver Galleries in Canberra and a host of private/public collections.