Melani Grube
Mixed Media
Skelly Jazz: Skeletons from the Jazz Age dance and engage in high jinks. An ukulele player in a straw boater keeps a couple flappers dancing, while a flapper in the foreground applies lipstick and a dandy struts in yellow shoes. A skelly strikes a pose, while another displays her fan.
Skelly Pirates: The painting "Skelly Pirates" shows a ship full of skeleton pirates sailing on the tumultuous sea, as a seagull skelly flies with the prize pendant from the treasure chest to return it to the skeleton mermaid in the waves below.
Gaia, Upon Finding the Light: the goddess Gaia when first discovering her power and the whirlwind of life that springs forth in the dappled sunlight of a forest glade with birds, flowers, and wildlife bursting forth. Exhibited in the Sacramento region, as well as in San Francisco, in the Sanctuary Show at the ARC Gallery.
Dancer in Shadow: a dancer lives in the secret part of us that we keep hidden from the harsh world around us, but her gown shines about her and reveals her brilliance.
The Aviary from the Carnival of the Animals series shows a bustle of birds in a dreamlike forest. The birds perch, preen, nest and fly. Their interaction reflects the busy society that we live in. Exhibited in the Sacramento area, as well as in the Bay Area at the Enchanted Realms Exhibit at Arts Benicia.
Year of the Rat from the Lunar Year Astrology series shows a kingly rat in crown and royal violet robes promenading with a scepter through a woodland scene, while rats and mice cheer and throw tiny flower petals, and a bee goes about his flower business. Finished in 2020, this painting reflects the lunar new year animal and its small, unseen life brought to prominence, just as we witness the oppressed in society taking back their power and the unseen virus altering and controlling our daily lives.
The Kiss from the Masters Revisited series shows a couple in that moment before a kiss, in a world of their own, unreal and wrought with emotion and passion, flowers at their feet and energies at play in the air around them. Inspired by the Gustav Klimt painting of the same name.
Tea Time Moment shows a woman deep in thought at a table dressed in a cloth, topped with a china tea set, a china tea pot and macarons offer sustenance and consolation.
Flowing Over was created for the Journey of Hope Show 2019 (Crocker Museum), an exhibit to raise awareness of mental health issues. Artists were given stories written by people who have had a mental health journey. Each artist then created a piece inspired by the story. The story for Flowing Over described a young woman mourning the loss of her father and finding solace only through creating art that allowed her emotions to "flow".
The Dark Queen from the Bloodwork series shows a woman oppressed entering into a defiant rage and reclaiming her power and self-determination, while sustaining her vulnerability and grace. Flowers and flames spring up around her.
Studio
Studio Dreamland5725 Audrey Way
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
About Melani Grube
Growing up in Los Angeles, CA and Reno, NV, Melani Grube always loved and created art, but she never thought of herself as an artist. She went on to graduate from college with a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Arts, and entered the workforce. All along the way she picked up art classes here and there and worked on her own, but still did not embrace her role as an artist. Not until she was faced with a series of unexplained illnesses did she pause and ask herself what she was doing wrong.
A little voice inside her answered, “Commit to becoming a serious artist.”
Melani was no stranger to working from gut feelings for she has also always been intuitive.
While early in life, she sketched and painted in watercolor, when she launched her professional art practice, she found that she had to create from deep within, from that intuitive place that she calls Dreamland. She found that inroad to the deep psyche by creating paint spatters and then, finding the images within those abstract shapes.
Melani uses pen and ink to define the preliminary sketches, and carbon crystal pastels to deepen and focus the piece. Her ultimate goal is always to bring the messages from the subconscious out, to give meaning and correlations and a sense of connection to something bigger than ourselves.
Melani exhibits throughout the Sacramento region where she now lives, as well as the Bay Area. She has won awards, including a Best in Show at the Mills Station Arts & Culture Center, and her work has been featured in two magazines. She has also exhibited at the Crocker Art Museum in the 2019 Journey of Hope Exhibit.
This is Melani’s third year participating in the Sac Open Studios Tour and she is very excited to be part of this year’s groundbreaking online format. She says, “Now Dreamland, that has always lived in the electrical environment of our minds, can step into the electrical environment of the waking world through the online experience.”
Services Offered
Takes Commissions, Teaches Classes