In 1993, after receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University, Mel Scully headed west. She landed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and got a job working for a lodge in Grand Teton National Park. “That is where life really changed for me. I had gone there for an adventure, but the beauty of the mountains was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I felt as if I had stepped into an entirely new world.”
Mel spent that first summer hiking and painting in her room each day after work. “I felt like I had to paint what I was experiencing. Not just the land itself, but the feelings it was evoking inside me.” She also started reading western authors, and fell in love with the works of Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, Edward Abbey, and Rick Bass.
Inspired by these writers and the landscapes they described, Mel pulled up stakes and moved on. “I wanted to experience the west, so I started traveling. I moved to Moab, Utah for a couple of years, then tried Alaska, Colorado, Montana and Taos, New Mexico. “I had a real passion for seeing new places and experiencing new things.”
The travels were amazing, but made it hard for Mel to create a steady stream of artwork. “It seemed like I would set up a studio only to pack it up a few months later.” This helped prompt her decision to continue with school. “I knew that school offered a chance for me to really focus on the direction of my art for a few years, and I am so thankful for that time.” Scully earned her Master of Fine Arts degree from Utah State University.
Upon graduation, Mel felt the need to go back to northern New Mexico and its unique landscape, cultural diversity, and vibrant arts community. So she returned to Taos, where she served as the Artist in Residence at the Harwood Museum of Art. “I lived in a beautiful historic apartment above the museum, with a studio attached. It was really quite a blessing.”
It didn't take long for Mel to realize that Taos was where she was supposed to be. Now, five years later, she is still in Taos, and she has begun a whole new adventure: “I got married and my husband and I now have a beautiful baby daughter. The last year has been an incredible challenge, particularly finding enough time to spend in my studio. I have to work with shorter bits of time, and on those days when Elsie is having a hard time I often have to throw my plans out the window. But when I was pregnant and worried about how I would juggle motherhood and art, another artist/mother told me that 'whatever adds to your life adds to your art', and Elsie has definitely added to our lives.” |
