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If a Butterfly Flaps Its Wings by Esperança Melo, acrylic & collage on canvas.
Esperança Melo loves colour. You only have to see her work, which is now on display at the Pastry Peddler in downtown Millbrook, to appreciate the vibrantly rich tones that radiate from all of her paintings. Texture, layering of colour and collage interact to create nuanced and deeply evocative works that glow with an inner warmth.
Perhaps that warmth and love of colour may be attributed to having grown up in the sub-tropical islands of the Azores where Esperança was surrounded by their lush and colourful landscape. This Iberian relationship also manifests in the surrealism and metaphor you can find in her newest paintings as she explores our relationship with time. To quote her artist’s statement, “I am fascinated by the duality of our nature and the life-long intricate dance between our polar opposites of humanity and ego. My paintings often travel beyond borders of what might be defined as reality, because I love the poetic language of metaphor. Whether in literature or visual art, I admire the work of the surrealists who confidently navigate between the dream world and our waking hours, without fear of contradiction in their quest for truth wherever it may reside.”
Esperança works in various art forms and media, including painting, collage and sculpting in papier-mâché. She was a founding member of the Millbrook Gallery collective and over the years she has continued to pursue her interest in painting and illustration. Esperança has illustrated several children’s books, among them More Blueberries! and Love You More, by author Susan Musgrave, and co-illustrated with her partner Bill Slavin the picture book Drumheller Dinosaur Dance by author Robert Heidbreder, which was the recipient of the 2005 Blue Spruce Award in Ontario and the 2006 Chocolate Lily Award in B.C. She has lived in Millbrook since 1990 and is very pleased to be showing these paintings, most on display for the first time, right here in her own community. Her exhibit Journey in Time runs throughout the month of December.
Esperança is also represented by Cavan Arts in the hamlet of Cavan where more of her work can be seen. You can also view her work online at esperancamelo.blogspot.com. KG
