Melissa Wilkinson is a watercolorist who’s focus is the figure, gender and identity, and appropriation. Raised in the midwest, she received her BFA in painting from Western Illinois University in 2002 then went on to receive her MFA in painting from Southern Illinois University in 2006. Her work has been featured in wide reaching publications throughout the country including three editions of New American Paintings and the Manifest Drawing Annual four times. She has shown in various galleries nationally and internationally including South Korea, Canada, India, and Art Basel Miami and has won numerous awards throughout her career. She has won several fellowships and grants including the Arkansas Arts Council Fellowship in Painting in 2012, a Middle East Studies Grant to create an image archive in Israel in 2016, and a National Women in the Arts Grant to do the same at the Smithsonian in 2019. She is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor of Art-Foundations at UMass, Dartmouth.

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