Carol Mellberg | Owner, Artist
Carol has long worked with the tulip as the figure – its expressive form is the starting point for her painting process. Her current work brings paint, pen and the poetry of ee cummings to the canvas. She is inspired by the endless play of light and color, and the physicality of working in large format.
Background
Carol created ARTstudio60 post-pandemic to nurture community, connect painters and artists, and create both a virtual and physical space for growth and healing through the arts.
Carol, a native to the San Francisco Bay Area, developed a passion for drawing and painting at a very young age. Her father taught her to draw and her mother encouraged arts classes and kept arts materials plentiful and easily accessible.
With a strong interest in the Fine Arts, Carol attended the Lacoste School of the Arts in the south of France where she studied drawing, painting and sculpture. After her Lacoste experience and studying with reknown painters, she dove into painting with a passion, focused on capturing and expressing light. Her large format paintings are inspired by the WPA murals in Coit Tower. The scale and the physicality of creating large paintings stretch her compositional skills and challenge her to push boundaries. The big brush strokes are reminiscent of her forehand groundstroke from her many years on the tennis court as a ranked player and coach. Carol’s work is also influenced by her study of Graphic Design at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and her post-college work as a freelance artist focusing on illustration and layout.
As a painter, Carol understands intimately the healing power of the arts. Carol has a Masters in Counseling and is a licensed Art Therapist who has worked for two decades on the forefront of mental health. She works with children and adults, individually and through innovative arts programs, teaching the creative process as a way to navigate challenges, develop resilience, connect with inner knowing and spark joy.
