Melissa Melero-Moose facts for kids

Melissa Melero-Moose is a talented artist from the Northern Paiute and Modoc tribes. She creates amazing art using different materials. She also helped start a group called Great Basin Native Artists in Nevada. She is a member of the Paiute-Shoshone Tribe of the Fallon Reservation and Colony.

Early Life and Artistic Beginnings

Melissa Melero-Moose was born in San Francisco, California, in 1974. She grew up to become a well-known artist.

She studied art at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She also earned a degree from Portland State University. These studies helped her develop her unique artistic style.

Creating Unique Mixed-Media Art

Melero-Moose creates a special kind of art called mixed-media paintings. This means she uses many different materials in her artwork. Her paintings often show the beautiful landscapes and rich culture of her Northern Paiute people.

She uses acrylic paints in thin layers, like washes. She also adds layers of rice paper and natural items. These items can include willow branches, tule reeds, cattails, and even pine nuts.

Her art is inspired by the Great Basin landscape. She also gets ideas from ancient petroglyphs (rock carvings) and traditional Native American basketry. Her work has been shown by the Nevada Arts Council.

You can often see her art at big events. These include the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum Guild Fair & Market in Phoenix, Arizona.

Supporting Great Basin Native Artists

Melissa Melero-Moose noticed that Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin were not always recognized in the Native American art world. To help change this, she co-founded the Great Basin Native Artists (GBNA) group in 2014. This group helps Great Basin artists get more attention.

She has organized many art shows for artists from the Great Basin. One show was called Great Basin Native Artists in 2016. It was held at the Carson City Community Center.

The Great Basin Native Artists also works with the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum. Together, they have a changing art gallery. This gallery shows the amazing work of local Indigenous artists.

Melero-Moose once said, "Indian people, even though so much of the population was wiped out, we never stopped creating." This shows her passion for Native American art and culture.

Since 2018, the Nevada Museum of Art has supported Melero-Moose. They gave her a special fellowship to research and create a list of Great Basin Native artists. She also helps guide the Nevada Arts Council as a board member.

Awards and Recognitions

Melissa Melero-Moose has received many awards for her art. She has won several awards at the Santa Fe Indian Market. In 2016, the SWAIA group chose her as their Santa Fe Indian Market Discovery Fellow. This was a great honor.

In 2015, she was chosen as the Ronald and Susan Dubin fellow by the School for Advanced Research. The Nevada Museum of Art in Reno also named her their first Peter E. Pool Research Fellow in 2018. These awards show how important her work is in the art world.