Melanie Eberhardt's gouache paintings are a unique stylized representation of life experiences.  Her layered figures that seem as cut-out and pasted into their own world are designed, sketched, and slowly painted with a full spectrum of color.  Eberhardt takes care with intricate detail to minimize the look of brush strokes, keeping the sometimes harried worlds in her creations well in place. She considers balance and contrast important elements her painting's compositions and concepts.  Her imagery, representative of the activities of everyday life, is playful but provocative.  At first glance her paintings seem innocent, full of fun color and pattern, but with closer study, they are thematically a bit darker and challenging.   The title for this show was taken from the lyrics a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, an "underlying ‘Aesop’s fable’ lesson of learning to take the good with the bad.  These new works will be unveiled on Saturday, August 2, 7-10 PM.  The show runs through September 17.

Melanie received her BA in Graphic Communications, Illustration from The Center for Creative Studies at The College of Art and Design, Detroit, MI.  Since that time, she has had exhibited extensively throughout the United States and has won numerous awards for her work. Among her awards, Melanie was recently awarded a public art commission from the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska. Her painting, "Beckoning" will be on permanent display in The Port Security Building in Anchorage.  The building will serve as the gateway for travelers entering Alaska via the Port of Anchorage. Last year she left her successful career in graphic design to devote her time to her art.