Born and raised in Placerville, California, Melissa Phillips was introduced to contemporary painting while studying visual art at the California State Summer School for the Arts at CalArts. She had her first solo exhibition at the Witt Gallery at CSU Sacramento where she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Art with a concentration in Art Studio in 2009.

She relocated to Texas in 2012, and currently works out of her home studio in San Antonio.

Artist's Statement: The individual that perceives the place and the atmosphere that in turn recognizes the individual is described in a fleeting image, encouraging both personalities to speak simultaneously, which blends into an immense reverberation. What’s felt below the surface of earthly endeavor in one moment of presence and observation is exposed through a lens that highlights the wooly roots of time, the sentiment of fate.