Carol Mell

Carol Mell’s art celebrates the spirit moving through all things, merging the natural world with imagination to create spaces of healing and joy. With roots in Oregon’s vast landscapes and a dance background from The Juilliard School, her work bridges the inner world of mystery with the outer world of nature. She has been deeply influenced by the land and peoples of the American West. Her career in journalism evolved into a passion for fine art photography, where she explored the curious spaces between the "real" and "unreal" through imaginative shooting and digital editing. This exploration led her to print photos on silk and cotton paper, layering them into encaustic and painting with oils. The results are lush and sensuous, giving flat images weight, materiality and physicality. During the pandemic, she transitioned from photography to painting intuitively with cold wax medium and oils. What began as an outlet for despair transformed into a vehicle for jubilation and humor, bringing vibrant, fantastical creatures to life. Now, from her Rio Rancho studio, she devotes herself exclusively to painting, using cold wax medium, encaustic, oils, and acrylics on paper, canvas, and panels. She energetically mines her inner landscape, just as she once explored the land and her creatures. On her ongoing journey into the deep connection between self and nature, she invites others to “Follow the Dirt Road in Your Soul.”

Carol Mell grew up in a wild landscape where a creek flowed from snow-laden mountains to a great river teeming with prehistoric fish. As a child, she felt a deep kinship with the trees, waters, and creatures, sensing their voices and stories. The people around her, living off the land, further strengthened this connection, making her feel as though her body was an extension of the earth itself. This profound bond with nature has driven Carol's artistic journey through various forms—writing, choreography, dance, photography, and painting. In all her work, she seeks to recreate the wonder and belonging she felt in her first playground, a world of imagination, exploration, and magic. While mainly known for her photo encaustic landscapes, Carol’s current practice includes intuitive painting with cold wax, encaustic, oils, and acrylics. When the weather allows, she works outdoors, letting elements like heat, wind, and rain influence her final pieces. Her focus is on freedom from inner oppression and connection with all that is, with a special interest in storytelling, imaginary creatures, and prehistoric cave art. Treating her studio as a research lab, she is now exploring larger-scale paintings and experimenting with different paints and substrates, always striving to discover the personal myths and symbols that arise from the shared ground of all being. Her award-winning work has been featured in numerous national and international exhibits.

2-D, Painting (all materials), Photography