Melody Croft

I paint people in oil and watercolor and look inside of what appears to be seen. The common thread in my work is humanity and unlike the lens of a camera that objectively documents a moment in time and space, my lens subjectively observes and comments. My portraits and narrative paintings converge the real and imagined to examine the status quo and social norms of modern life. I invite viewers to consider the psychological, sociological, or emotional complexities of race, gender, age, and culture.
I often incorporate text into paintings. My master’s degree in reading education and the thirty years of reading aloud to children and being read to by children from storybooks where picture and text go hand-in-hand have influenced this creative choice. I use lettering from magazines and newspapers for the text, much like the ransom notes written by the kidnappers on the TV detective shows I watched as a kid. I am drawn to the various colors, sizes, and fonts of the cutout letters and how they enhance the visual impact of the overall painting and provide context, allowing the viewer to connect emotionally and intellectually.
I attribute my artistic style to the hundreds of young children I knew in my 30 years as a teacher. The ...

Self Taught

Solo Exhibitions
2021 Invitational Online Exhibit, NYC Phoenix Art Collective, New York, NY
2021 Too: An Orientation of Spirit, Oconee County Arts Foundation, Watkinsville, GA
2021 Black Lives Matter, The Tiny Ath Gallery, Athens, GA
2018 Illuminations, Universal Unitarian Church, Athens, GA
2017 Sixteen Stories, Oconee Library, Watkinsville, GA
2013 Menagerie, White Tiger, Athens, GA
2013 Goddesses: The Real and The Imagined, The Loft Gallery, Watkinsville, GA
2012 Melody Croft, Hendershots, Athens, GA

Two Person Exhibition
2015 The Space Between Us, City Gallery, Charleston, SC, August

Curatorial Exhibition
2018 Resonance: a bi-sensory art exhibit, Oconee County Arts Foundation, Watkinsville, GA

Group Exhibitions
2024 Pen and Ink, Winterville Cultural Center, Winterville, GA
2023 Lyndon House 46th Annual Juried Exhibition, Juror Hallie Ringle, Hallie Ringle,
the Hugh Kahul Curator of Contemporary Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Lyndon House Arts Center, Athens, GA 
2022 By Any Other Name, Athica, Athens, GA
2022 Rhythm & Movement: The Art of Music, The Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, Watkinsville, GA
2021 Black Art Matters, Juror, Toya Northington, executive director, artThrust an...