Melissa Mohammadi
Open Studios Hours May 13/14 11am-5pm
My meticulously observed drawings and prints on paper range in size from 7’ long immersive watercolor and pastel botanical landscapes to handheld, exquisitely cut and layered tunnel books.
My time spent studying medieval manuscripts and tapestries as an assistant to a book conservator, during research travels in Europe and Turkey, and as a graduate studio under the Byzantinist Annemarie Weyl Carr have recently synthesized with the exploration of tunnel books at In Cahoots residency and printmaking as an ongoing resident at Kala Institute in Berkeley.
My immersive botanical landscapes on paper or panel are invitations to float and find respite. Recent tunnel books and collages are utopian constructions akin to Victorian garden books; they are possible fictions, fairy-tale futures — an exuberantly inhabitable present.