About Melanie Delgado
(B. 1977 in Morristown, NJ)
Melanie Delgado is a self taught abstract painter living in Glenford, New York.
She instructs a weekly class & workshops at the Woodstock School of Art.
She paints large abstract paintings on canvas, she feels strong while working on big pieces.
When she starts its fast, lots of lines, many marks.
Mark making is important to her.
Repetition of marks is seen throughout her work.
She’s learned to pay closer attention to what’s happening underneath the surface. Layers of paint accumulate after weeks sometimes months of painting.
Once she slows down to see what’s happening is when she realizes there’s more to it. Bringing marks back to the surface is reflective of her investigating her past.
Colors are recognized in memory, familiar, intuitive and automatic.
She’s looking for what’s underneath the surface. She’s looking for the truth. A reach for slowness, learning from the work, excavation of actions!
Some softness to her work, but generally bold, sharp & scraped.
Titling each painting is very personal to Melanie, the connections and memory play a significant role.
Photo: Yellowhouse Production
CV
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 I’m in the Studio Tonight Because of You, The Sketchbook Gallery, Saugerties, NY
2024 Crosswalk, Maiden Lane Gallery, Kingston NY
2023 Likes to Investigate Trouble, Maiden Lane Gallery, Kingston NY
2022 Forearm Ghost, Gallery 40, Poughkeepsie NY
2016 Cabin Fever, Anvil Gallery, Kingston NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026
Of Paper and Plate, Site Seen Arts & O+ Festival, Kingston NY
Woodstock Monoprint Invitational, Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock NY
Keep it Together, Wallkill River Center for the Arts, Montgomery NY
Instructors Exhibition, Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock NY
Of Frame and Fallow, Site Seen Arts, Esopus, NY | NY TIMES
2025
Of Hull and Hush, Site Seen Arts, Kingston NY
Shelf Show, Monument, Kingston NY
Field Trip, Melanie Delgado and Yoko Izu, Buster Levi Gallery, Cold Spring NY
Instructors Exhibition, Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock NY
2024
Too Marvelous For Words, Maiden Lane Gallery, Kingston NY
NOISE FOR NOW / Upstate Art Weekend, Maiden Lane Gallery, Kingston NY
Phoenicia Festival of the Arts, Varga Gallery, Phoenicia NY
2023
Homebase, Pinkwater Gallery, Kingston NY
Active Member’s Show, Woodstock Artist Association & Museum, Woodstock NY
2022
Woodstock School of Art Instructors Exhibition, The Lockwood Gallery, Kingston NY
A Sense of and Ending, Pinkwater Gallery, Kingston NY
2021
Woodstock School of Art Instructors Exhibition, The Lockwood Gallery, Kingston NY
2020
Pandemic Paintings, Greenkill, Kingston NY
In Pursuit of Color, The Lockwood Gallery, Kingston NY
Pinkwater Gallery, Kingston NY
2019
An Artistic Legacy: 1+1+1, WAAM, Woodstock NY
Warburton Galerie, Yonkers NY
Urban Studio Unbound, Yonkers NY
2018
Emerge Gallery, Back to School, Saugerties NY
Instructors Exhibition, Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock NY
Urban Studio Unbound, Yonkers NY
2017
Kleinert James Gallery, Woodstock NY
2016
Urban Studio Unbound, Yonkers, NY
Kleinert James Gallery, Woodstock NY
2015
Kleinert James Gallery, Woodstock NY
Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock NY
Torche’ Galerie, Belmar NJ
CURATION
2024 - 2025
Maiden Lane Gallery, Kingston NY
Multitudes | Simi Stone
The Space Between | Yoko Izu
Two person show | Marcie Paper & Fern Suess
Crosswalk | Melanie Delgado
Holding Pattern | Lindsey Wolkowicz
Too Marvelous for Words | Group Show
2020
The Teen Show | Wired Gallery, High Falls NY
PANELS | ARTIST TALKS
2026
Group Show Keep it Together w. Elizabeth Keithline | Puzzle at Wallkill River Arts Center
Eva Tenuto at Good Work Institute
2023 Mimi Young at Pinkwater Gallery
2022 Byrdcliffe Forum Presents: Hudson Valley Abstractionists
AWARDS
2025 Chronogram “Best Artist” Readers' Choice Award
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT | COLLABORATIONS
2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2026 O+ Annual Festival, Kingston NY
2022 Fruition Chocolate collab w. Pinkwater Gallery & O+ Music Festival, Kingston NY
RESIDENCIES
2014-2017 Byrdcliffe Artist Colony, full time residency
Artist video by: littlebitcreates.com
EXHIBITIONS
2025
Sketchbook Gallery | Saugerties NY
“I’m in the Studio Tonight Because of You”
“I’m in the Studio Tonight Because of You” is Delgado’s attempt to take the viewer through her process by breaking down the lines and marks that land on the paper or canvas from beginning to end.
The first mark tends to be towards the right, middle side of the page. Woody sticks, graphite crayons, pigment sticks, stiff brushes and palette knives are her tools of choice.
The woody stick can make really thin lines that ignite each painting’s energy. When water is added it will wash the color out and make light marks that can be seen in small areas under the piles of oil paint. It’s been said that Melanie is a ‘painter’s painter’. When you stand in front of her work, especially the larger oil paintings on canvas you can feel the battle. She is committed to her practice and has a deep love for her students and their work as well.
This show is dedicated to you.
Artist Statement
Once, I unconsciously mixed a palette reminiscent of a polyester blouse my grandmother wore while playing Skilo down the shore. Another combination of colors brought me back to the first time I tasted a blast of Welch’s strawberry soda. We had a rusty swing set & rust formed on my grandfather’s antique trucks… that particular shade of orange shows up in almost everything I paint. It peeks through the lines & shapes drawn on top.
I choose my colors from memory. I am painting the chaotic past.
I don’t mind the way oil paint takes so long to dry because I’ve learned to be patient. I got a late start in life because I was too busy getting high. Now I see the connection between the smell of oil paint and the odors in my grandfather’s workshop.
It all takes time.
I find myself watching too many movies about people in prison. I hope I can show my father a picture of what reminds me of the time he made me toast and scrambled eggs.
I didn’t realize it when I started but I see now how much the past influences my work.
