Melanie Rivers
Meet Melanie
Creating art brings me into the present moment, into stillness. In this space I am not dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. In stillness, I find myself. I find peace, clarity and connection with my real emotions. I struggle with depression and anxiety and creating art has been transformational for me.
I am from the Squamish First Nation in Vancouver, Canada. My ancestral name is Tiyaltelwet which was my great, great grandmother’s name. I live in my community and draw from my traditional ancestry and teachings in my art practice. I have a wonderful husband of 19 years who is also an artist. We live in our community with our sweet kitty “Myshkin”.
I believe we are all creative in some way and I am passionate about facilitating opportunities for people to engage with creativity. I am an experienced teacher and trained in Expressive Arts.
My 20 years of experience working in the Indigenous health field and in curriculum design and instruction means I carefully design lessons that will guide you step by step through the creative process.
In my art, I depict the strength, realness and vulnerability of women. Underneath our negative beliefs of ourselves is our true beauty. We find this through being vulnerable and doing the work of experiencing our emotions. My art and lessons often focus on portraits. I believe humans are drawn to looking at faces, bringing us into connection with each other. We see ourselves in our common humanity.
Learn more about Melanie
Creative Classes & Studioworks Contributor
Artwork
Select the images below to view more of Melanie’s work.
