The Artistry of Melanie Steinway

I first found out about Melanie Steinway’s art through Emily Owens, my daughter. Melanie grew up in Boulder, Colorado, where it is an everyday experience to see animals roaming about, since the town itself is at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Melanie obviously developed a love for animals and nature. Her art is an expression of that love.

Melanie graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2012, with a BFA in Illustration. Much of her art is done with woodburning (pyrography) and mixed media. The animals she draws vary from deer to African wild dogs, hyenas, foxes, fish, whales, and rams. It is a total variety and I like how she exaggerates horns on the animals, sometimes draping leaves on the horns, and often the pieces have a mystical sense of fantasy intertwined. She gets the wood for the pyrography from sawmills, or she gets scraps from furniture makers.

Melanie also does pyrography on instruments. I have posted two pictures of guitars she has done. “Stag Twins” is her first acoustic guitar, a Fender, which she has had since she was sixteen. “Deer Skull” is an old acoustic guitar owned by a friend’s father. Fender also sends some guitars to Melanie for woodburning, so you may be able to find her work where Fender guitars are sold.

Currently Melanie lives in Denver, Colorado, and works as a tattoo artist at Urban Element Tattoo. She is often commissioned to do private designs for tattoos. She also plays music in her indie rock band Tyto Alba. Even the name of the band comes from nature. Tyto Alba is the scientific name for barn owls. (1)This is a link to her band’s music: http://tytoalbamusic.com/.

All the photos of Melanie’s art here link to her website. There she has links to her Facebook page, Instagram, Tumblr, and Etsy shop. If you live in the Denver area you may be able to hire her for commissioned work.

I hope you enjoyed this brief exploration of Melanie’s work.