A Minnesota native, Melinda’s passion for art was inspired by her early experiences in the natural world. As a child, Melinda would spend hours with her sisters and neighborhood friends exploring the wooded creek that bordered her childhood home; building forts, collecting frogs and toads, and picking wildflowers. Those days wandering through the woods shaped her imagination and sparked a lifelong connection to nature that continues to influence her work today.
Melinda pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota. After graduation, Melinda’s career flowed between creative fields and corporate worlds, taking jobs such as a production potter, making jewelry with a wholesale jewelry company, and even a corporate job with a large retailer. Throughout these endeavors, Melinda continued to create artwork that explores the color, texture, shape and whimsy of the world. In 2015, Melinda took a chance on herself and left her corporate job to pursue art full time.
Melinda began making jewelry from wood when she noticed her husband, Brian—owner of Wolff Woodworks, using scrap wood to light bonfires. With her background in jewelry, Melinda believed she could create jewelry out of the small bits of wood. She learned how to use the woodworking tools and began experimenting with making wooden beads and pieces for jewelry. After years of practice, she mastered her method of creating the wooden jewelry that marries the beauty of the art with the goal of creating with little or no waste.
That same fascination with wood eventually led Melinda to begin painting on wood panels. Using thin layers of oil paint, she works with the natural rhythm of the grain—allowing the wood’s markings and texture to guide the imagery and movement across the surface.
You can find Melinda’s work in galleries, stores, and at local art fairs—check her website for dates, and follow her art adventures on Instagram and Facebook.