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Portfolio

About Melissa

Melissa Carey is an established Contemporary Artist living on the East Coast of Australia, and her work has been showcased internationally. She loves to create large sculptural installations, contributes installation art within the community through festivals, art exhibitions, collaborations and commissions, and has a passion for sharing her knowledge and creativity through teaching modern art & craft workshops for adults and kids since 2014. Given her background in Project Management, Quality Assurance and Training for 12 years, she is well equipped with the right skill set for managing art projects and events, and teaching creative classes. 

Melissa has a hands on approach to her artwork, and is involved in every stage of the process, from concept design, to fabrication and installation. 

Melissa has worked with leading brands such as Google, Ikea, Seafolly Swimwear, Salvation Army, Atlassian, Market City Shopping Centre, and more. To read more about Melissa, CLICK HERE

Wild Heart Sculpture at Burning Seed Festival, NSW 2019

Melissa was awarded an art grant to create a site-specific artwork for the Burning Seed Festival (The Australian version of the Burning Man Art Festival). Along with her team, Melissa created 6 metre high bird sculpture out of timber, which was burnt as part of the Friday Night Art Burn.

See more pictures and videos on Melissa's Instagram HERE

Cow Head Sculptures, 6HEAD Restaurant, Sydney 2019

Melissa designed 6 cow head sculptures in collaboration with Dion Horstmans, that line the entranceway of the stunning, heritage listed restaurant 6HEAD, located at The Rocks, Sydney, NSW. 

See more pictures and videos on Melissa's Instagram HERE

Rope art Installation, 6HEAD Restaurant, Sydney 2019

Melissa created a rope art installation spanning across 2 levels and 4 walls of the stunning, heritage listed restaurant 6HEAD, located at The Rocks, Sydney, NSW. 

Melissa and her team used over 7,500 metres of Australian cotton rope (grown and manufactured locally) and hand-knotted each piece to create this beautiful intricate design. See more pictures and videos on Melissa's Instagram HERE

Ocean Art Installation, St Clares College, Sydney 2019

Melissa collaborated with St Clares College to create an art installation with the year 8 girls. We chose the ocean-theme to raise awareness of the climate emergency and the importance of taking care of our oceans to preserve the beautiful array of sea creatures and life. Melissa held a series of workshops where she taught the girls new skills and showed them how to create handmade sea creatures using textiles. We made jellyfish, starfish and created little macrame hangings for the ocean textures, and added them to the art installation, that is now hanging in their school hallway.

See more pictures and videos on Melissa's Instagram HERE

"The Spiral of Life" - Strand Ephemera Sculpture Exhibition, Queensland 2019

Melissa was an invited artist for the biannual sculpture exhibition located in Townsville, Queensland. Her artwork "The Spiral Of Life" represented a timber helical spiral and was displayed on the beach front at The Strand for 12 days. At night, the sculpture came to life with video projections and live fire spinning performances. 

To see more pictures and videos CLICK HERE

Bondi Art Trail - Art Installation, Sydney 2019

Melissa was invited to create an art installation as part of the Bondi Art Trail at the Bondi Winter Magic Festival. She created a suspended bottle installation representing how we bottle up our emotions. It was located at The Shop & Wine Bar in Sydney for two weeks. 

See more pictures and videos on Melissa's Instagram HERE

Confest Festival, Regional NSW 2019

Melissa created a sculpture called "Woven Conversation Pod” for Confest Festival in the Australian bushland of south NSW as part of 4ArtsSake ⁣

After building the sculpture with her team out of hand-collected wood, she then created looms on the inside of the sculpture, and  taught weaving workshops during the festival, where the community contributed their weaving inside the sculpture using ethical up-cycled fabrics. The sculpture also became a little hang out space to weave conversations. ⁣ See more pictures and videos on Melissa's Instagram HERE

Art Installations for DARK CINEMA, Sydney 2019

Melissa has created 2 art installations for the Dark Cinema Immersive Art Events in Sydney. These were site specific installations that mirrored the themed nights, where other artists performed during the night. 

See more pictures and videos on Melissa's Instagram HERE

Bottled Up Art Installation, Sydney 2019

Melissa created an art installation using suspended recycled bottles. 

The work represents the repression of emotions through the visual form of suspended bottles - as we bottle up our emotions, they start piling up, hanging onto a thread, and once one moves they all move, entwining each other. 

CLICK HERE  to see the video that captured this beautiful movement and to see more photos

"Fortune Circle" Art Installation, Sydney, 2018

Melissa has partnered with Market City Shopping Centre in Sydney, to create an art installation for the Chinese New Year. Melissa has created an 8 metre art installation that is a modern representation of Chinese fortune sticks, which are used for good fortune. This art installation has been created using hundreds of hand-painted pieces of wood that reference Chinese fortune sticks.They have been suspended to create a helical spiral form. When viewing the sculpture from Level 2, the circle formation is visible, which symbolises harmony, balance and good fortune.

CLICK HERE for more info.

"Open Heart" Sculpture, Sydney, 2018

Melissa was commissioned by the Liverpool City Council to create a giant heart sculpture for the feature piece at the 'Eat Your Heart Out Festival' in August 2018, surrounded by amazing food, arts, markets, music and culture.

CLICK HERE for more info.

Cotton Conversation Art Installation, Ikea 2018

Melissa created an art installation for @ikea_Australia for the #cottonconversation night using suspended raw cotton flowers, along with re-purposed Ikea cotton curtains to create an organic sculptural form that encourages conversations about where our cotton comes from and how it is used. This natural form with its leaf-like patterns inspired from nature, may be interpreted as a cotton bundle, a floating cloud, or even a mere thought bubble. @ikea_australia are now moving towards more sustainable farming methods of cotton, which means reductions of chemicals and water used during production.

Art Installation, Air Nightclub 2017

Melissa was commissioned by Air Nightclub in Perth, Australia to create a large suspended art installation which contained over a thousand hand-designed acrylic pieces that were suspended using fishing line to create a wave-like 3D shape. 

CLICK HERE for more info

Berlin Art Residency 2016

Melissa completed an Art Residency for 2 weeks in Berlin at Huttenpalast studio. The art installation was titled "Connected" which represents the connection between people - how sometimes we want to isolate ourselves and hide away, when what we really need is connection. She used recycled t-shirt fabric to create her own style called "drawing with yarn". The artwork was 2.5 metres tall by 1.2 metres wide. 

CLICK HERE for more details and images

Solo Art Exhibition, Berlin 2016

Following from Melissa's Berlin Art Residency in September, her art installation was exhibited at Studio Baustelle Gallery for one month, and there was an opening night on the 17th September with live music, a bathtub full of yarn with an interactive art inside the gallery (where people took a piece of yarn and added to the hanging interactive art piece). There were also small pieces of work for sale in the second window.  

CLICK HERE for more details and images

Rope Art Installation, Seafolly Australia 2016

Melissa completed a commissioned art installation for Seafolly Australia for their top 5 stores in NSW, QLD and WA, Australia. The installation is made from hand-dyed cotton rope and woven with macrame. The installation was on display during Feb/March 2016 throughout Australia, and also was on display at several stores in the USA. 

CLICK HERE for more details and images

Beams Art Festival Installation 2015

Melissa participated in the Beams Festival held within the streets of Chippendale, Sydney. "Through The Tunnel" was an interactive work, where people walk through a web of woven glowing fabric, creating a unique engaging experience for the viewer, and aimed to unleash their playful, cheeky and child-like side as they duck and weave through the tunnel. The tunnel can be touched, and has a breath-like quality, as it slightly  moves, wobbles and bounces while people pass through. 

 CLICK HERE for more details and images

Day of the Dead Festival 2015

Melissa's art installation "Tunnel De Luz" (tunnel of love) was featured as a main artwork at the "Day of the Dead Festival" in November 2015. 

The Artistry, a creative event management and design group, organised this unique festival which was held in a secret location in Sydney. Day Of The Dead Australia is the ultimate celebration of life, at the same time we remember and honour the departed. 

 CLICK HERE for more details and images

Rope Art Commission, Oxford Hotel 2015

Melissa was commissioned by Swerve Design Architects and Synergie Projects to create a large macramé art installation for the Oxford Hotel in Darlinghurst, Sydney. Melissa hand-dyed the cotton rope, which transformed into an iridescent orange, worked with her team of weavers to complete the macramé weaving design. The work was then installed in the hotel permanently.

CLICK HERE for more details and images

Pavilion Restaurant - Macrame Commission 2016

Melissa completed a commission for the Pavilion Restaurant located in the Botanical Gardens in Sydney. Based on the theme of using sustainable products, Melissa used recycled cotton rope that was hand-dyed naturally using coffee and used macrame knotting to create 12 unique plant hangers positioned in the main circular bar area. 

Beams Art Festival Installation 2014

Melissa Carey was a part of the Beams Art  Festival in Sydney - her art installation "Weavings of Light" featured handmade macrame hangings using woven recycled t-shirt fabric, and contained handmade lights with tissue paper. The light sculptures illustrated how light and energy are synonymous with community. As they illuminate the streets they depict how an area can only be Utopian or alive with a community of people supporting it. 

"Material Pleasure" Art Exhibition 2008

Five emerging female artists joined forces to present an art exhibition titled "Material Pleasure" at Heathcote Gallery in Perth, Australia. After recently completed their studies in Visual Art, the graduates displayed works that take a playful and interesting look at the theme of materiality in art. Melissa used photography, drawing and print on gauzy fabric and paper to express a yearning for the inner child and for higher spiritual ideas. 

 CLICK HERE for more details and images

Blues N' Roots Music Festival 

Melissa was commissioned to create a sculpture for the Blues N' Roots Music Festival in Perth, Western Australia. She created a giant steel treble clef. 

 CLICK HERE for more details and images

Site-specific Installations

Melissa has created numerous site-specific art installations and sculptures for different festivals, commissions and events around Australia. Here is a quick overview of her works over her art career.

 CLICK HERE for more details and images


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