Artist Bio

Melanie Hindman is an abstract artist based in Portland, Oregon, whose work explores the tension between presence and longing. A dual citizen of France and the United States, her art is deeply influenced by summers spent in France and the emotional pull of living between two cultures. This sense of duality is woven into her textured and expressive pieces, often incorporating her signature use of hair nets—collected during her time as a professional cook—as a symbol of the tension between the mundane and the profound.

In her creative process, Melanie immerses herself fully, beginning with building her own stretcher frames, stretching and priming her canvases with gesso, and even constructing floating frames to enclose her finished works. Her approach to art mirrors the methodical, yet intuitive nature of cooking, where she crafts each piece from the ground up, allowing the act of creation to guide her.