Born and educated in Detroit, Melissa is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and curator living in Eastern Kentucky. Her work examines a devolving socio-political landscape, using myths of patriotism, pride, and partisanship as catalyst. Narrowing world views and distorted ideas of a singular "homeland" fuel studio work that explores bodies, bias, violence, and unrest. Materials employed favor the familiar—and often the soft—like handkerchiefs, US flags, Army Surplus fabric, vintage quilts, kitchen matches, clothing hangers, and vase forms.
Vandenberg earned a BFA in studio art from the Center for Creative Studies in Detroit (1999) and an MFA in sculpture from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (2005). Accolades include a Kentucky Foundation for Women Artist Enrichment Grant (2011), the Kentucky Arts Council Al Smith Fellowship (2015), and multiple Great Meadows Foundation Travel Grants (2017/18). In 2016, she was shortlisted for the Luxembourg Art Prize. She has exhibited across the United States and abroad in Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Iceland, Poland, and Sweden. Her work is in the collections of the Birmingham Museum of Art (Alabama), Gummifabriken (Värnamo, Sweden), 21c Museum(s), the Rockwell Museum (Corning, NY), and the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts at the University of Alabama.
Melissa is Professor of Art and Director of the Fred Parker Giles Gallery at Eastern Kentucky University. She has been represented by Maus Contemporary in Birmingham, AL since 2011.
Photo Credit /// Erica Chambers Photography