Julie Baker Fine Art is pleased to announce that gallery artist Melissa Wood will participate in a residency/studio demonstration for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco at the de Young Art Center and Legion of Honor Museum. Wood, a resident of Davis, California studied printmaking at the School of Fine Arts, Washington University, St. Louis, MO and completed a 1993 fellowship from the Women’s Studio Workshop located in the Hudson Valley of upstate New York where she created work in cliché-verre,a rare medium, combining printmaking, drawing and photography. The overlapping of people’s relationships to their home, geographic location, to each other, to time, to animals, plants and insects, like a geologic layering of sediment and energy are of great interest to Wood and occupy the themes of her work. The visual representation of these layers creates a unique dynamic geography, a record of events, and stories

For her residency at the Fine Arts Museum, Wood started by thinking about the idea of "Liquid". She researched the word "liquid" on the internet, at the library, using a thesaurus, dictionary, free word association and brainstorming: "Liquid: fluid, readily flowing, molecules moving freely with respect to each other so as to flow readily, flowing smoothly and musically, gracefully, liquid verse, clear, liquid eyes, liquid assets, body fluids, liquid ambar", liquid substances such as resin, hot wax, milk, rain, oil, and honey. She was especially attracted to honey, the sweet product of extremely high energy, work, industriousness, selflessness and ingenuity of the female worker honey bee used to sustain the hive community throughout the winter. Wood researched the honey bee extensively: economic, historical and literary significance relating to humans, honey bee anatomy, social behavior and life cycles. She observed North American honey bees at her home in Davis, CA as they gathered pollen and nectar from California native plants. Her given name, "Melissa", means "honey bee" in the Greek language but this fact, according to Wood, has absolutely nothing to do with her interest in this subject.

Wood borrowed the title for this project from a 1962 HEW Social Security information pamphlet she found in the possessions of her father who died August 11, 2001. She substituted the word, "Liquid" for "Social Security Identification Card".

In this series, Wood continues her work with layers of mixed media: objects, graphite, gesso, acrylic, oil, silk, transfers, text, personal photographs and handwriting Much of the handwriting becomes essentially illegible through layering but still recognizable as writing of a personal nature. It is in fact highly personal writing all of which has a basic underlying message: that she will express the truth in her art and will not be stopped. For the work at the de Young Art Center, Wood will work on two sets of three large birch panels, (6’ x 3’), symbolizing the three types of honey bees present in a hive: drone, queen and worker. The total of six panels symbolizes the six-sided wax cells in which the Queen honey bees lay their eggs. The panels will be connected by hinges allowing them to be manipulated as 3-dimensional objects occupying roughly the stature and physical presence of a human being. The wood symbolizes the choice of wild honey bees in native North America to most frequently use hollow trees to build their nests. Wood is fascinated by the honey like color of the wood and the beauty and intricacy of the patterns and surface.

For her work at the Legion of Honor, she will work with layered mixed media on wooden blocks which can be stacked and grouped in different ways. She will invite the guests and visitors of the museum and art center to work with her to create a story or record of our collaboration as they make marks, add color and layer text and photos on the wooden blocks. Their interaction with the work will leave a layer on the blocks, a record of their presence that day at that place. This work that is created by a collective group effort will be displayed alongside Wood’s individual work in both locations.

Schedule of Events:
Works on view and Melissa Woods on site:
de Young Art Center 2501 Irving Street @ 26th San Francisco, CA
Wednesdays – Saturdays, August 6 – 30, 12:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Workshop, Wednesday, August13 6:30– 9:00 p.m. (SOLD OUT)
Artist’s Reception, Wednesday August 27 6:00– 8:00 p.m.
Legion of Honor 34th Avenue and Clement St. in Lincoln Park, San Francisco,CA
Melissa Wood’s Demonstrations and Exhibit
Tuesdays, August 5, 12, 19, 26 12:00 – 4:00 p.m.