ABOUT
Melissa Smith primarily works with print, utilizing traditional and new technologies. Her work references aspects of the landscape and in particular the shifts in the landscape that have occurred as a consequence of climatic changes, questioning its future balance.
She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Australia and overseas. Melissa has been a finalist in major art prizes including the Glover Prize, Hutchins Art Prize, Burnie Print Prize, Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Banyule Works on Paper Art Award, Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize and the Alice Prize. Her prints were acquired in the 2011 Silkcut Print Award and the 2012 Fremantle Print Award. Melissa’s work is represented in corporate, tertiary, college and private collections in Australia and overseas, and in the following Public galleries; National Gallery of Australia, ACT; Burnie Regional Gallery, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, TAS; Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Grafton Regional Gallery, Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, NSW and the Warrnambool Art Gallery and Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, VIC.
Melissa currently lives and works in Launceston, balancing her roles with Arts Tasmania as a Roving Curator and Program Officer for Public Art, with her arts practice.
Represented by Handmark Gallery - Hobart & Evandale, Tasmania and Port Jackson Press, Melbourne
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 The Blue of Distance, Handmark Gallery, Hobart, TAS
2015 Between Islands, Handmark Gallery, Hobart, TAS
2013 Touching Ground, Handmark Gallery, Hobart, TAS
Dissolve II, Little Gallery, Devonport Regional Gallery, Hobart, TAS
2012 Dissolve, Sawtooth ARI, Launceston, TAS
2011 Shifting State, Handmark Gallery, Hobart, TAS
2010 Collective Traces (Selected Works 2004-2009), Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania
Launceston, TAS & 146 Artspace, Arts Tasmania, Hobart, TAS
2009 Trace Elements, Handmark Gallery, Hobart, TAS
2002 Melissa Smith – Works on Paper, Main Street Gallery, Hahndorf, SA
1996 Abintra, Snakepit Art Gallery, Launceston, TAS
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2018 Wyndham Art Prize, Wyndham Art Gallery, Werribee, VIC
2017 Banyule Award for Works on paper, Hatch Contemporary Arts Space, Ivanhoe, VIC
Whyalla Art Prize, Middleback Arts Centre, Whyalla, SA
Bay of Fires Art Award, St Helens, TAS
Works on Paper, Handmark Gallery, Hobart & Evandale, TA
Wyndham Art Prize, Wyndham Art Gallery, Werribee, VIC
Gippsland Print Award 2017, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, VIC
Nature, Australian Print Workshop, Melbourne, VIC
Burnie Print Prize, Burnie Regional Art Gallery, Burnie, TAS
2016 Swan Hill Print & Drawing Acquistive Awards 2016, Swan Hill Regional Gallery, Swan Hill, VIC
Eventide, Morington Regional Gallery, Mornington, VIC
Landscape Show, Handmark Gallery, Evandale,TAS
SCOPE Galleries Art Award 2016 – Art Concerning Environment, Warrnambool, VIC
Contemporary Paper, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne, VI
Lola Greeno and Friends, Handmark Gallery, Hobart, TAS
Scratching the Surface, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne, VIC
2015 Glover Prize 2015, Falls Park Pavilion, Evandale, TAS
Burnie Print Prize, Burnie Regional Art Gallery, TAS
Bay of Fires Art Award 2015, St Helens, TAS
Hutchins Art Prize, Long Gallery, Hobart , TAS
Parallel Prints NZ - Australia, Art Gallery of Ballarat, VIC & Art at Wharepuke, NZ
Gippsland Print Award 2015, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale, VIC
Paper Contemporary, Sydney Contemporary, Sydney, NSW
The Mildura BMW Australian Print Triennial Prize, The Art Vault, Mildura, VIC
Rick Amor Print Prize 2015, Montsalvat, Eltham, VIC
2014 Works on Paper Art Fair, Science museum, London, UK
Tasmanian Landscape, Academy Gallery, TCotA, Launceston, TAS
Prints 25, Print Council of Australia, Whitehorse Artspace, Box Hill, VIC
Australia - land - people; a visual narrative of the land and it people, Kyoto Hanga 2014
International Print Exhibition, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Kyoto Municipal Museum, Fukuyama Art
Museum, JAPAN
2013 Living Data: Art from Climate Change, Muse Gallery, Ultimo TAFE, Sydney, NSW
Burnie Print Prize, Burnie Regional Art Gallery, TAS
Tasmania Today: An Island State, Academy Gallery, TCotA, University of Tasmania, TAS
Think.Make.Change, Design Tasmania, Launceston, TAS
Muswellbrook Art Prize, Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre, Muswellbrook, NSW
2012 (Acquired) Fremantle Arts Centre Print Award, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, WA
2012 Silkcut Award, Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Waterhouse Natural History Prize, South Australian Museum, Adelaide, SA
Living Data: Animating Change, Muse Gallery, Ultimo TAFE, Sydney, NSW
Launceston NOW, New Gallery, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS
Beautiful Soup, St. Heelers Street gallery, Abbotsford Convent, Melbourne, VIC
SCOPE Galleries Art Award 2012 – Art Concerning Environment, Warrnambool, VIC
Bay of Fires Art Prize, Parnella Gallery, St. Helens, TAS
New Prints from Tasmania, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne, VIC
(Commendation Award) Tasmanian Art Award, Perth, TAS
2011 (Acquired) 2011 Silkcut Award, Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Biennial International Print show, Art at Wharepuke, Kerikeri, New Zealand
Geelong Acquisitive Print Award, Geelong Gallery, Geelong, VIC
16 th International Print Biennial Varna 2011, Bulgaria
Sunshine Coast Art Award, Caloundra Regional Art Gallery, QLD
Esk Collection 2001-11 Collecting contemporary Art, Academy Gallery, University of
Tasmania, TAS
CPM National Print Award, Tweed River Art Gallery, Murwillumbah, NSW
Burnie Print Prize, Burnie Art Regional Gallery, TAS
Colour and Movement, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne, VIC
The Delicate Art of the Woodcut and Lino printing, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne, VIC
Contemporary Australian Printmaking, James Makin Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
The things we denote to keep, Sawtooth ARI, Launceston, TAS
Think Tank – the visual diary, Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania, TAS
2010 2010 Silkcut Award, Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Sunshine Coast Art Prize 2010, Caloundra Regional Art Gallery, QLD
Williamstown Festival Contemporary Art Prize, Williamstown, VIC
Something in the Water – Tasmanian Printmakers, Port Jackson Press, Melbourne, VIC
Works on paper, Handmark Gallery, Evandale, TAS
Annual Tasmanian Print Show, Handmark Gallery, Hobart, TAS
Beyond the Chalkboard, Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania, TAS
2009 2009 Silkcut Award, Glen Eira City Council Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
Banyule Works on Paper, Banyule Arts Space, Ivanhoe, VIC
Poimena Art Award, Poimena Gallery, Launceston, TAS
Burnie Print Prize, Burnie Regional Art Gallery, TAS
Tasmanian 1:100,000 – Mapping the Island, Ten Days on the Island, IXL Atrium, Hobart, TAS
Works on paper, Handmark Gallery, Hobart, TAS
COMMISSIONS
2011 Print Council of Australia Commissioned Print
2011 Tasmanian Government Art Site Scheme, Holman Clinic, Launceston General
Hospital, Launceston, TAS
2010 Tasmanian Government Art Site Scheme, Albuera Street School, Hobart, TAS
2005 Print Council of Australia Commissioned Print
1997 Patron Print, Snakepit Gallery, Launceston, TAS