Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Melana Bontrager has lived throughout the Midwest and the East Coast of the United States and has travelled extensively throughout Europe in service to her artistic practice. Most recently attending a transformative residency at Camporsevoli in Tuscany, Italy.

Bontrager obtained her BA in Fine Arts with a focus on abstraction from Taylor University, Indiana. She also had the privilege of studying painting and drawing at Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy and at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. She went on to obtain her MA in Art Therapy from Hofstra University, which has contributed to the integration of emotion and intimacy in her creative process.

Bontrager continually surrounds herself with communities of multi-disciplinary artists focused on discussion and exhibition of their art as part of her own process. She continues to develop her signature approach to art: the use of ink line and acrylic color to process her relationships, her community, and the related emotions she experiences.

She currently lives and works in Everett, WA

I believe everyone has a story to tell. These stories are comprised of families, conflicts, acquaintances, friendships, loves, loss. The human experience often seems fragmented, marked by unexpected interactions, situations, and emotions that sometimes feel out of place, useless, and random at best. And yet, there is often a strange and captivating beauty that grows from these fragmented places. We find ourselves drawn into the stories of others because we identify with the disjointed spaces revealed through honesty and vulnerability. What once felt pointless, begins to hold meaning and beauty. As we listen to each other’s stories, we discover connections, hope, and a reminder that we don’t traverse this life alone. It is a representation of these beautiful discoveries that I attempt to paint.

My current work incorporates structures that are both intriguing and structurally impossible. Set in their own landscapes, they speak to the experiences of community both in urban and rural settings; more specifically to the combination of the two, and the dialogues that that combination entertains.

In the Pacific Northwest, we live in a beautiful location, surrounded by the wonder of nature and the ever-changing growth of urban development. We live in community. We cannot escape how we affect one another.

Our consideration—or lack of consideration—for our fellow human beings and our world makes a difference. While we may not agree with the beliefs of our neighbors, we can affirm the story of every person, recognizing that our value and worth lies not in our beliefs, but our personhood. Just as no human being or geographic location is perfect, so the shapes that I create in my paintings are not measured or “correct”, rather they serve an invitation to stop and consider. My hope is that these works will challenge the viewer to emotionally interact with and speculate about these shapes and their environments; that they would hold the attention and consideration of the viewer, offering a space to consider the responses they might evoke.

City of Everett, WA

Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle WA

Ander, Capitol Hill Station, Seattle WA