South Carolina Artist Melissa Pinney

melissa pinney, artist self portrait sitting outside with the sun on her face — **Melissa Pinney, Artist Self Portrait**
Oil on Encaustic Panel, 12″ x 12″ x 1 1/2″, ©2019
Private Collection

South Carolina artist Melissa Pinney creates art inspired by her personal experiences traveling near and far. Most all of her artwork has a connection to nature or design elements in man made objects. Experimentation with subjects and media are an important part of her work.

Painting as a creative outlet was a new chapter in Melissa’s life. Always interested in and a supporter of the both the visual and dramatic arts, it wasn’t until after her son completed college that she began taking painting lessons. Learning a new craft energized her in unexpected ways; painting successes were fulfilling and failures were only new problem solving opportunities to try a different approach or technique.

Melissa was raised on a small farm in the tight-knit rural community of Strawberry Plains, Tennessee, on the outskirts of Knoxville, where her family has resided for many generations. After a career as a marketing professional in the finance industry, she retired in 2017 and currently resides in Greer, South Carolina.

Melissa holds a B.S. from the University of Tennessee and a M.B.A. from Columbus State University, and recently returned to Greenville Technical College to take fine art classes.

Exhibits and Awards

2022 – Accepted to the 2022 Visual Arts Annual Student Exhibition, Greenville Technical College, Juror, Karen Oremus, Greenville, SC
2022 – Accepted to the Juried Fine Art Show, 2022 South Carolina State Fair, Columbia, SC
2022 – Greenville Center for Creative Arts (GCCA) Annual Member Showcase, Greenville, SC
2022 – Honorable Mention at the 9th Annual Juried Exhibition, Spartanburg County Public Libraries, Juror, Shane Howell, Spartanburg, SC
2022 – Accepted to the 2022 Juried Art Exhibition, City of Fountain Inn, Jurors, Fountain Inn business/community committee, Fountain Inn, SC
2022 – Flat Out Under Pressure (FOUP) Juried Show, Metropolitan Arts Council, Juror, Dr. Katie Geha, Greenville, SC
2022 – Accepted to the Artist of the Upstate 2022 Juried Art Show, Artisphere. Juror, Elizabeth Goddard, Greenville, SC
2022 – Accepted to the Small Works Juried Competition 2022, SouthWest Artist Inc., Juror, James D. Brantley, Mena, AK
2022 – Accepted to the 47th Annual Juried Show 2022, Anderson Arts Center, Juror Kirah Van Sickle, Anderson, SC
2022 – Honorable Mention at the Greer Arts Center juried show, Juror City of Greer Art Show Judges, Greer, SC
2022 – Blue Granite Review Magazine, Juror/Managing Editor Mimi Schlein, Professor of English, Greenville Technical College, Greenville, SC
2022 – 26 Awards from the 2021 GTC Department of Visual Arts Annual Student Exhibit, January 19-February 25, 2022, The Kroc Center, Greenville, SC
2021 – 2021 Visual Arts Annual Student Exhibition, Greenville Technical College, Greenville, SC, Waiting for Her, Printmaking Design – 1st Place, The Studio Artist Gallery website – 3rd place
2021 – Accepted to the Artist/Collective Spartanburg 2021 Annual Juried Show, Spartanburg, SC, Jurors Mary Erickson and Denise C. Woodward-Detrich
2021 – Librarian’s Award at the Spartanburg County Public Libraries’ 8th Annual Juried Exhibition, Juror, Zane Logan, Spartanburg, SC
2021 – Greenville Center for Creative Arts (GCCA) Annual Member Showcase, Greenville, SC
2021 – Flat Out Under Pressure Competition Retrospective Exhibit, Metropolitan Arts Council, Greenville, SC
2021 – Accepted to the Artist of the Upstate 2021 Juried Art Show, Artisphere. Juror, William Downs, Greenville, SC
2021 – Accepted to the Small Works Juried Competition 2021, SouthWest Artist Inc., Juror, Brenda Morgan, Mena, AK
2021 – Art on the Town Art Crawl, Anderson Art Center, Anderson, SC
2021 – Blue Granite Review Magazine, Juror/Managing Editor Mimi Schlein, Professor of English, Greenville Technical College, Greenville, SC
2021 – Greenville Technical College Student Scholar Exhibit, Greenville, SC
2021 –
2020 – 2020 Visual Arts Annual Student Exhibition, Greenville Technical College, Greenville, SC, 3D Design – 1st Place
2020 – Artist/Collective Spartanburg Annual Juried Show 2020, participant, Artist Collective, Spartanburg, SC; Jurors Alice Sebrell and Connie Bostic
2020 – Flat Out Under Pressure, Metropolitan Arts Center, Greenville, SC, 6th Place; Juror Tom Stanley, visual artist, Rock Hill, SC
2020 – GCCA Members Show, Greenville Center for Creative Arts, Greenville, SC
2020 – Blue Granite Review Magazine, Greenville Technical College, Greenville, SC
2020 – 2020 National Small Works Exhibit, SouthWest Artist Inc., Mena, AK.; Juror Linda Lucas Hardy
2019 – 44th Annual Anderson Arts Center Juried Art Show, Carrie Stringer Award, Anderson Arts Center, Anderson, SC; Permanent Collection; Juror Brian Spieling, Chief of Design for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
2019 – 2019 National Small Works – Abstract Award of Merit, SouthWest Artist Inc., Mena, AK
2019 – Artist of the Upstate, Artisphere, Greenville, SC; Juror Richard Wilson
2019 – Blue Granite Review Magazine, Greenville Technical College, Greenville, SC
2019 – Greenville Technical College Student Scholar Exhibit, Greenville, SC
2019 – GCCA Members Show, Greenville Center for Creative Arts, Greenville, SC
2018 – 2018 Visual Arts Annual Student Exhibition, Greenville Technical College, Greenville, SC, Drawing – 3rd place; Juror David Detrich, professor of art and sculpture and graduate program coordinator at Clemson University

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