Music in Our Own Back Yard: First let me just say, “Wow!” What an opportunity for me to be asked to paint portraits of such amazing local talent. I would also like to thank the Newaygo County Council for the Arts and the Dogwood Center for Performing Arts, especially Lindsey Isenhart, for believing in me and my work by giving me this incredible opportunity.

I cannot express enough my gratitude to the musicians who have let me paint their portrait. I am sure that it must have been very odd for them to get this strange request, call, e-mail, out of the blue from a gal named Missy. They were all very gracious and wonderful to work with whether we were able to communicate in person, or just via e-mail and phone.

I could write a long and winded statement about each of these paintings and the subjects, as most artists do, but the most important message I would like to convey with this show is how fortunate we are to have an incredible amount of local musical talent in the Grand Rapids and West Michigan Region. With all of the electronic devices we have, to listen to music anytime we want to, we take for granted the level of talent in the area. If all electronics were taken away today, and we were without our radios, MP3’s, CD’s, I believe we would quickly appreciate these talented individuals on a whole new level.

Please take the time to catch a show in the area, whether at the Dogwood or one of our other regional venues. You will be amazed at how much great music is here, at home, when you start looking into it. While the other pieces in the show are not of local musicians, they reflect my musical passion, the Blues.

“Bessie Smith” is the only framed painting that is not of a local musician, but she started it all for me and gave me the idea with her tragic and beautiful story. Although the originals are not for sale at this time, Limited Edition Prints of all of the paintings are available through the Newaygo Council for the Arts starting October 1st.

This show is just the beginning. The list of local musicians to hit my easel is already growing. I think Big Daddy Fox is next; then maybe Delilah Dewylde…?

the art of melissa b morrow

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