Melanie Ariens is an artist, environmental advocate and volunteer community coordinator with diverse interests, skills and a willingness to learn just about anything to achieve a set goal. She received her degree in painting, drawing and printmaking from UWM in 1992 and worked there as the print shop assistant. She was formerly represented by La Galleria Del Conte (now closed) and participated in many group and juried shows. Having been out of the art loop due to motherhood, she has tried several things to keep the creativity flowing; mainly making handmade jewelry and little knits – things that are easily put down and picked up again when you have little uninterrupted time. For the past 10 years she has served as the Co-Founder and Co-Director, Healthy Communities Project, working to promote the reduction and elimination of the use of landscape pesticides. She has also served on the Environmental Advisory Commission for the Village of Whitefish Bay, and on the Green and Healthy Schools Committee for School District of Whitefish Bay.
With both her children now in school all day, she has time to focus on her art, craft and environmental interests and re-emerge into the Milwaukee art scene. Her deep involvement in environmental work has moved Melanie to propose creating art at RedLine that gets people to think about environmental issues in a different way in order to spur stewardship.
In addition to studio arts, she enjoys knitting, basket weaving, sewing, and hand-making just about anything she may need, even if it is just for the fun of it. Her interests include sustainable living, gardening, healthy cooking, camping, hiking, canoeing, biking, kite flying, playing the ukulele, and doing pretty much anything outside as long as it doesn’t kill her!
