About

“I paint what makes me happy, and I hope that happiness is contagious.”

Meet M‍‍‍elanie Florio

Melanie Florio is a California-based fine artist and illustrator, born in 1983. She began painting under the instruction of Lela Harty and continued her education at the Laguna College of Art and Design (LCAD) where she specialized in drawing and painting and received her MFA in 2007.

Melanie's work celebrates modern life through a nostalgic lens that offers an open-ended and subtle narrative. Her work captures the everyday iconography of us, with a touch of whimsy. There is a virtual race to create new icons in popular culture, and she is as obsessed with them as much the next person. She takes mundane situations in life such as coming home from work, or sitting at the dinner table, and recreates them as iconic representations; elevating the importance of the little things in life we are all too familiar with.

MFA from Laguna College of Art and Design BFA from Laguna College of Art and Design

EXHIBITIONS

● UPCOMING: 2017 May 6th & 11th Solo Show Hotchkis Gallery, Los Angeles CA

● 2016 October “The Cauldron” Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa OK

●2016 June “Fahrenheit Exhibition” Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK

●2016 April “American West” La Galeria Gitana, San Fernando, CA

●2015 “The Birds” Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK

●2015 “Chicken Scratch” Deasy and Penner, Pasadena, CA

●2015 “The Lollipop Guild” Lovetts Gallery, Tulsa, OK

●2015 Faculty Show Rio Hondo College, Whittier, CA

●2014 “California” La Galeria Gitana, San Fernando, CA

●2013 “Vietnam Memorial” Westfield Mall, Valencia, CA

●2013 “Reap What you Sow”, Outwest Cultural Center, Valencia, CA

●2012 The Good Art Company, Fredericksburg, TX

●2011 The Good Art Company, Fredericksburg, TX

●2010 Monrovia Studios Presents, Newport Beach, CA

●2010 Rainey Fine Art Gallery, Newport Beach, CA

●2009 Fairhaven Mausoleum Exhibition, Santa Ana, CA

●2009 Paintings from Live Model, Group Show, ROARK, Los Angeles, CA

●2008 Contemporary Realist Painting and Drawing, Koplin Del Rio, Culver City, CA

●2008 MFA Group Show, Barker Hangar, Los Angeles, CA

●2008 Shadows in Fairy Tales, I5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

PUBLICATIONS

Downtown Life Magazine “What to do with an Empty Wall?” April 2015

Southwest Art Magazine “Where are they now?’ May 2014

Post Magazine Illustration Advertisement, August 2012

Southwest Art Magazine, “21 under 31” August, 2008

American Artist, 2002

EDUCATION

●2008 Anthology presents emerge, San Diego, CA

●2008 Spring Brewery Artwalk, Los Angeles, CA

●2008 City Hall, Laguna Beach, CA

●2008 Winter Exhibition, Wendt Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

●2007 Fairhaven Mausoleum Art Exhibition, Santa Ana, CA

●2007 Fall Brewery Artwalk, Los Angeles, CA

●2007 Summer Salon, Wendt Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

●2007 Gallery 793, Laguna Beach, CA

●2007 Brewery Artwalk, Los Angeles, CA

●2007 2nd Annual Student Art Show at the State Capitol, Sacramento, CA

●2006 Totus Tuus: An Epiphany of Beauty, San Diego, CA

●2006 The Art Studio, Westminster, CA

●2005 Insiders Art Show, San Diego, CA

●2005 Dennis Ekstrom Studio, Laguna Beach, CA

●2005 Ettinger Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

●2005 Contemporary Chinese Fine Art Gallery, Laguna Beach

●2004 Diane Debilzan Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

●2004 Ettinger Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

●2004 Insiders Art Show, San Diego, CA

●2003 Insiders Art Show, San Diego, CA

●2003 Ettinger Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

●2002 Ettinger Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA

●2002 Robson Gallery, San Diego, CA

CHILDREN'S BOOK ILLUSTRATION

Bear Crimbo - by Matt Goss, Hilton Publishing 2008

All Night Long - by Steve Knight, Yorkshire Publishing, 2009

"Grandma, Why Do You Have Cracks On Your Face?" - by Kay Coop, 2011

● 2016-2017 Greenleaf Montessori - Los Angeles

● 2016 California State University - Long Beach

● 2014-2017 Rio Hondo College, Whittier, CA (Beginning Drawing, Beginning Painting, Intermediate Painting, Advanced Painting)

● 2008-2016 Mt San Antonio College, Walnut, CA (Understanding the Visual Arts, Basic Studio Art, Beginning Drawing, Beginning and Intermediate Painting)

● 2007-2011 The Art Studio, Westminster, CA (Drawing and Painting classes for children and adults)

INSTRUCTION

‍‍‍Contact

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