Deshria Illustration

Melissa is an award winning artist (BFA from MassArt) whose work has been internationally published and sold. Growing up as an Army Brat exposed Melissa to many cultures and instilled a great love of listening to peoples stories. This love shows in her work being dedicated to portraiture and bringing peoples’ stories to life. She has been featured in Professional Artist Magazine and had  a piece hang in the Berkshire Museum of Art and Framingham Art Museum.  Her work can also be seen in large scale murals. The largest being murals in Fitchburg and Springfield. In her Mural work, she uses her traditional oil painting skills and translate them into house paint. She is passionate about creating murals WITH the community, so the community feels the art is theirs and that they had a hand in creating it. She has done public arts pieces and murals across Massachusetts. She is a winner of the Saara Parker Painting Prize from Fitchburg Museum and has won 1st Place at Several Chalk Art Festivals and in the Boston 19th Amendment Poster contest. Oil is her primary medium, although she also works with egg tempera, Acrylic and watercolor. She teaches non-credit painting at Holyoke Community College.