About The Artist • Melissa Hickok

Growing up in Charlotte, NC, I had the good fortune to be raised in a family that valued the arts. I began my study of visual art and photography during high school at Northwest School of the Arts and continued the same path in college. My soul needed some salty air and I spent my undergraduate years by the coast at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. There, I was right at home in the art department and was eager to take as many studio courses as were offered. New loves of printmaking and ceramics formed as I became further involved with photography. In 2003, I graduated with a BA in Studio Art and began to teach at several pottery studios as well as a photography and film museum. Teaching soon became a full time pursuit, giving me the opportunity to pass on a knowledge and love of art, photography and ceramics to high school students.

Although primarily studying in other concentrations, painting has always been my passion and medium of choice for personal growth. I like to challenge myself by exploring themed bodies of work, experimenting with various surfaces and surface treatments and using mixed media. After developing the idea for sonogram paintings, I became interested in the multiple diverse ways in which one image can be interpreted and expressed. Every sonogram can be designed and painted in so many separate and distinct ways, each embodying it’s own spirit. The most enjoyable aspects of my role as an artist are the ability to constantly evolve this process and to create pieces tailor made to anyone’s aesthetic. More important still, is the opportunity to inspire a deeper connection between the parent and the life they have created.