Melanie Young

Young’s work explores memories both recent and distant, as she covers then reveals a figure often standing in for herself. Rediscovering something half-forgotten, moments and memories explored through sanding, scratching and removing part of the painted surface. The process is revealed, the journey is part of the final image.

Originally from Manchester, Melanie moved to Cornwall 15 years ago to bring up her 2 boys and lives on a small holding near Gweek where she has her studio She trained in the early 1980’s as a painter at Bretton Hall – a rural setting in Yorkshire.

Young’s work is a delicious mix of both serious and playful. Universal themes of love, loss, isolation, frustration and hope are explored in a rich and patterned surface  Recently Young’s work has journeyed from the familial and domestic to the ritual, she explores a playful narrative to create emotive images, both immediate and primal.

Young exhibited widely in the UK and also in Europe during the 80’s and 90’s but took a break from exhibiting when her children (who both have Tourette syndrome) were small. She did however continue creating work and this new body of work is something she is keen to show.