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Mel Strawn: All Together Now, 1940s-2000s
A retrospective of the work of well-known Colorado artist Mel Strawn, this exhibition features his artwork of the past sixty years with more than 70 examples of his sketches, paintings and digital prints. The oldest painting showcased is an oil portrait of his grandmother that Mel painted in 1943 when he was sixteen, and his most recent piece, POW Medal (Toriko), a mixed media work which he created with oil, digital, wire and encaustic on paper in 2006.
More importantly, this event is a celebration of Mel Strawn’s contributions to the Colorado art world, and his long, varied career as an artist and teacher.
Born and raised in the West and now Professor Emeritus, University of Denver, he lives and works in Salida with his wife, noted sculptor Bernice Strawn.
Mel studied art in high school in Boise, Idaho, where his teachers introduced him to modern and regional art, as well as the work of the Ashcan painters. He then attended Chouinard, Otis and Jepson art schools in Los Angeles, where teachers included Millard Sheets, Rex Brandt and Rico Lebrun.
After military service in Korea (1951-1953), he continued his education at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, earning a BFA and an MFA. His graduate advisor was Richard Diebenkorn, but his most influential teacher was Sabro Hasegawa, who introduced him to the Asian aesthetic, which would play an important role in both his art and his life.
Mel’s years of teaching began in 1956 in northern Texas. He also taught at Midwestern University, Michigan State University, Antioch College and the University of Denver (1969-1985), where, as the successor of Vance Kirkland, he was a Professor of Art and Director of the School of Art.
He retired from teaching at Western Michigan University and returned to Colorado in 1988, where he has devoted himself to his ever-evolving artwork. Strawn has never limited himself to a single medium or style, and, throughout his lifetime, his artwork has been in constant transition. Mel has always been excited about change and new discoveries.
Mel’s attitude toward artistic tools and art itself as his life’s work is reflected in a letter to his children, written in the 1990s:
"The emphasis is on painting…however, drawing, sculpture
and, in recent years, digital imaging have been as essential
to me as painting; they are really all one; they have all been
part of the working out my own sense of possibilities in the
world. They are records of self-imposed challenges and a
kind of celebration…Each of you engage (the world) in
different ways. My way has been art."
Find out more!
Transitions by Mel Strawn
Please note: Transitions is held in the Western History Department and is not available for check out. This item must be viewed in the department. Ask at the desk for access.
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