Today we’d like to introduce you to Melvin Nesbitt
Hi Melvin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My drawings have always been a way of connecting with others. Since childhood, I have kept sketchbooks and my drawings were noticed and encouraged by many of the people around me growing up. Ironically, or Naturally, my artwork focuses on my memories of that community I had as a boy. I grew up in Spartanburg South Carolina and, during my elementary school years I lived with my mother, little sister and brother in a public housing community, Tobias Hartwell Courts or “Tob’ Hartwell”.
I started creating this imagery after experimenting with collage while taking painting classes in DC. Originally, the plan was to use collage to make smaller versions of the paintings I Wanted to make. I befriended professional artists and was invited to their studios…sometimes, while they worked. THIS was invaluable learning experience and I could not recommend it more. Offer to assist a working artist in their studios and you might go home with a ton of free supplies and lessons! Anyway, Paints are insanely expensive and I often feared wasting them so, it made sense to me to work out all the color, value and, compositional ideas in collage using some of the paper I had lying around. Turns out I loved the process and results of painted paper collage more than painting and switched medias. Plus…paper as a medium instinctively felt right for the stories ( I call my imagery “stories” ) I wanted to tell. I began making more personal artwork. At first it was about truama but I quickly realized I didnt want to do that. I thought about how all the stories I’d seen and heard about public housing communities like the one I grew up in focused on everything except for the vast number of young children who lived in them and …it hit me….make artwork about my old friends and community and how much fun we had back in the early eighties. The stories resonated.
I had a string of good luck or, maybe it was an “In the right place at the right time” sort of situation.
Living in D C, I would make crayon sketches of other METRO riders and post them on my Instagram page. This got the attention of a transportation writer who did a piece for the Washington Post about the sketches but, he also included photos of collages I’d been working on. I got a lot of attention for those early collages. Then, I was chosen as one of the inaugural artists at STABLE Arts in DC. I call that my “Big Break” because it also led to press and many new opportunities to share my work with public art projects, collectors, art consultants, galleries and, thankfully, the DCCAH who awarded me two fellowship grants.
A group show at MOCADA led to a small solo show in their outdoor gallery. This caught the attention of Richard Beavers Gallery in Brooklyn, NY where I had a sold out solo show including acquisitions from Wake Forest University and 21C Hotels! I worked with RBG for 3 years.
My last show was a group show “Two/X” at Hemphill Arts in DC last November 2024.
My next solo show will be at Hemphill Arts in DC in September 2025!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
NO.
The first big obastacle was access to opportunities. I felt that I’d never become an artist in my home state of South Carolina and knew I needed to move to a place where that was more possible. A place where Black imagery would be appreciated. So, At 30, I moved to D.C. And I found excellent Art classes and mentors there.
Being able to afford to make Art ( and live in the city) has been a challenge. This is one of the reasons I moved to Baltimore. I was able to rent an apartment big enough to work in for a grand less than my old DC apartment which was so small, it made me feel claustrophobic!
Keeping up with demand has been an ass kicker. My process is not very fast…but I am getting faster the more Art I make!
Then, there’s been my lack of preparedness for the business side of being an artist. I’m still figuring all of that out and reaching out to mentors and other, more experienced, professional artists for advice.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I tell stories about Black American children living in public housing. More specifically, my imagery is based on my own memories of living in such a community as a boy.
I use paper, mostly, and it serves as a reminder that there is both beauty and value in people and items society often discards or considers disposable.
I’m most proud that I have the privilege of representing these types of communities while focusing on the children. I lived there from kindergarten through the end of sixth grade so, I was very young. And the neighborhood was filled with kids my own age so I had a ton of friends.
My art intends to show kids living in those communities today that they matter…they matter So much that artwork is made about them and exhibited in museums so they can see it when they go on field trips!
My work intends to be nostalgic for the adults who grew up in similar communities…for them to remember what it was like to be a kid filled with optimism before the awareness of poverty and racism
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Donate magazines for my kids workshops! Please! I’ll come pick them up if you’re in Baltimore.
Also, I’m looking for local organizations, schools, senior centers, etc. to hold collage workshops.
Not very active on social media anymore but you can follow me on BlueSky or Facebook to get updates on upcoming shows, new kids books and, workshops or classes.
I need a local support system and community in Baltimore, mostly, so I’m happy to connect with other working Artists!
Contact Info:
- Facebook: Melvin L. Nesbitt Jr
- Other: Blue Sky @melvincollage.bsky.social
