of his email: Dan Mancini, Stage Manager of the Joy Formidable. The telecaster I ended up burning was for Ritzy, the singer. I couldn’t believe it. She ended up rocking it opening for Passion Pit at the Boulder Theatre. It made me cry. After a song she said, “Melanie Steinway, if you’re out there, thank you for the amazing guitar!” When did you realize that art was your gift and it would be such a prominent part of your life? I remember being four or five and drawing sea monsters and stuff. I’ve loved animals from day one. My dad’s house was up in the mountains, so I spent a lot of time tromping around and having really cool encounters with deer. I grew up having every animal at one point in time: dogs, cats, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, rats, ferrets, maybe even a goldfish. And I would just draw all day, everyday. It feels very inherent and I can’t see my life without it. When did you realize that you wanted to explore tattooing? 28 I’ve been wanting to get into tattooing for the past two years and part of me was scared because I don’t look the part. I’m not covered in tattoos. But I’ve been doing tattoo designs for people for years. I thought I’m going to get rejected and I was a lot. I got tired of trying to approach shops. But Noel Edie, the owner of Urban Elements, saw my work and believed in me and that meant so much because I’ve never gotten that before. Tattooing is the most intimate form of art. I feel like a translator of sorts when I create an image for someone. The way that it interacts with the human body and the way that your piece lives and dies with the individual is really cool. is it similar to wood burning? With wood burning instruments, you’re drawing something very permanent on something very dear to someone, so it does feels like tattooing an inanimate object. But a tattoo machine is a lot heavier and vibrating while you’re using it. And your canvass, instead of being this flat, hard thing you can rotate around, is squishy and on someone who’s moving. You can’t really just walk into an art store and buy wood. How do you go about getting pieces? I get a lot of my wood from saw mills that my friends work at. Pine is the easiest for me to use, but I’ll take whatever. It’s fun because most of my canvasses just come and find me and each one is different and unique. My subject matter is often dictated by the wood and the grain and where the knots are. Your flexibility with mediums and material translates a sense of wonder and magic into your work. I want my art to make people believe in something that doesn’t exist in our world but it’s still there. Every creature that comes out of me, even though I don’t know its name or what it is, has a name and a personality and I see it living and breathing. They all exist up here (points to her head). Sometimes I like to think there’s this world where all the creatures I create are just hanging out and prancing around. And it feels that way for ISSUE 6
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