Melissa Dunn’s studio is in her house in Memphis, Tennessee, where she was born and has lived most of her life. She spent her early years immersed in the city’s music scene, splitting her time between playing with bands and making visual art.  Although she still plays guitar and sings, today music is mostly an inward-facing part of her studio life, with an audience of  sketchbooks, drawings, and paintings, which she refers to as her “highly energized objects.”  She has dedicated the last twenty-five years to finding, translating, and honing evolving forms based both from the everyday and from science, history, and literature. In addition to her studio practice, Dunn has worked as a teaching artist to children and adults. In 2021 she was awarded a public art commission for the Memphis International Airport and in February of 2024 she’ll have a solo exhibition at Crosstown Arts in Memphis.