Melanie Pankau
Melanie Pankau’s paintings are guided by her daily meditation practice followed by a process of automatic drawing where the geometric forms and diagrammatic structures in her work unfold. For over a decade, she has studied a variety of meditation traditions and techniques, and integrates this parallel practice into her paintings with the intention to reveal a contemplative consciousness. Pankau received her BFA from Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 1999, her MFA from University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in 2011 as well as studied at the Bauhaus Universtät in Weimar, Germany. Her work has been shown in regional and national exhibitions at venues including: McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL; Thomas Barry Fine Arts, Minneapolis, MN; Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN; South Bend Regional Museum of Art, South Bend, IN; Charles Allis Museum, Milwaukee, WI; Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA; and art fairs Art Miami, FL, and EXPO Chicago, IL. She has participated in several artist residency programs including the Vermont Studio Center, the Ragdale Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Pankau is a recipient of a Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Community Arts Assistance Program Grant and most recently, a 2020 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. Her work is represented by McCormick Gallery in Chicago.
