Michaleen Melby | April 2026 Featured Artist

This month we're proud to welcome Michaleen Melby as our featured artist at Bates Art Bar — a Wisconsin-born, Midwest-rooted artist whose work pushes the boundaries between fine art and craft in ways that are impossible to walk past without stopping.

About Michaleen

Michaleen grew up in Wisconsin and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa in 2015, where she also studied Environmental Studies. Her practice spans an unusually wide range of mediums and traditions — Norwegian Rosemaling, wood carving, illustration, Sami design, and painting — and she brings to each a sensibility that is simultaneously rooted in folk craft and thoroughly contemporary.

Her work asks viewers to think critically about societal norms, and she does it with a lightness and wit that makes the experience feel like a conversation rather than a lecture. She is also, by her own account, a dedicated sampler of oddly flavored sodas and a pseudo-professional bird caller.

What's on Display

On display this month you'll find pieces spanning several of Michaleen's ongoing bodies of work. We encourage you to come in, take your time, and let the work settle in alongside a cocktail.

Exhibition History

Michaleen has shown work across the upper Midwest, including group exhibitions in Duluth, MN and Portage, WI, and a solo/duo exhibition at Luther College. Her Etsy shop also carries original work and prints for those who want to bring something home.

See More

Visit her website at michaleenmelby.com or follow her on Instagram at @michaleenmelbyart.

Bates Art Bar is proud to feature regional artists working in all mediums. Works are on display throughout the month and available for purchase — ask at the bar.