Visualising Symptoms, Sound Workshop.
A workshop turning sounds of symptoms from the human body into collaborative works of art.
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Throughout the workshop, Mellissa played sounds collected throughout her project Sense of Symptoms exhibited at Phoenix Art Space in October 2023. Participants listened to these sounds and recorded their reactions using various art materials, they worked together on one large sheet of paper to create a collaborative graphic score.
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​Sounds used in these workshops were collected collaboratively with:
Sound therapist Mark Dixon
Cultivamos Cultura residency in Portugal by sound artist Nigel Helyer.
Sounds of pulsatile tinnitus were collected by the Pulsatile Tinnitus Clinic and RADIS Lab at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, and the Biomedical Simulation Lab at the University of Toronto. (RADIS = Robotics, AI, Dynamic flow, Imaging and Simulation)
Palm Bay Primary School - Margate
From 2019 to 2023 Mellissa was artist in residence at Palm Bay Primary School alongside a group of female artists Megan Metcalf, Sarah Stokes, Sara Jackson and Nova Marshall. Organised by Melanie Tong, for 5 years the artists have offered extra enrichment of arts to the school's curriculum as well as running regular projects teaching different skills and techniques. Throughout this time various groups of children have learned new techniques such as how to cast with alginate, plaster, draw what they see down a microscope, and make sculptures with modroc and clay.
PALM BAY NEWSPAPER
In May 2023 Mellissa created a poster that brought together illustrations the children had created through multiple workshops and Artists statements from each artist in residency.
Weekly Workshops With Mellissa
Mellissa has taught weekly workshops at Palm Bay School since 2018 and is passionate about the teaching materials she uses in her practice. The first workshop introduced the YALs (Young Artist Leaders) to Mellissa’s practice by exploring how she combines Art and science. Mellissa brought her microscope so the YALs could learn to draw what they saw under the microscope. Mellissa enjoyed involving the children in the various lines of inquiry her work explored and she often asked for their feedback on what she was creating.
Since lockdown 2020 Mellissa began a venture into ceramics with help from a local not-for-profit Clay Space and now she runs weekly ceramics classes, learning alongside the YALs.
