Color Pencil Artist
Member of Flag since:
1997
Melissa’s Bio:
Melissa Miller Nece is known internationally as a colored pencil artist. Her enthusiasm and humor have made her a favorite speaker for arts groups, and she has inspired many others to try colored pencils through her classes and workshops. She works closely with major pencil companies as a product tester and her drawings have also been used in advertising and promotional materials for several of them. She wrote a step-by-step article on a technique she developed that was published in the October 2012 Artist’s Magazine.
Melissa is a Fifteen Year Merit Signature Member and Five Year Merit CPX Signature Member of the Colored Pencil Society of America. She served as Ways and Means Director and President of CPSA and is now Corporate Relations Director for the society. Past President of CPSA District Chapter 113. She is also a Signature Member and Board member of the Miniature Artists of America, a board member of both the Miniature Art Society of Florida and the Professional Association of Visual Artists, and a member of the Florida Artists Group. She twice received grants from the Pinellas County Cultural Affairs Department (formerly Pinellas County Arts Council), in 2000 and 2008.
Melissa has a BFA from Lake Erie College and has been teaching drawing, colored pencil, and oil and acrylic painting at the Dunedin Fine Art Center since 1990. She has also taught college level graphic design and worked in commercial art. An award winner in international and regional shows, she has in turn served as a juror or judge for numerous shows and competitions. Her artwork is in many corporate and private collections. It has also been featured in CPSA Signature Showcase, Modern Masters of Miniature Art in America, Creative Colored Pencil Portraits, The Best of Colored Pencil Volumes 2, 3, and 5, Creative Colored Pencil, Portrait Inspirations, The Best of Portrait Painting and American Artist and Drawing Highlights magazines.
Artist’s Statement:
I am called to the beach – my art usually starts there. The natural environment inspires me by itself, but it’s also a stage for human activity. My drawings include both elements –energy and color brought by people interacting with each other and with sand, water and sky.
Being by water feeds my soul. My drawings and paintings are meant to take me back there – and to take the viewer with me. Because we all remember that place, and we all need to go back there.
My beach drawings are based on photos. Casual human gestures and roiling waves must be caught and saved before I can draw them in exacting detail. But even when I set out to paint or draw on location, when I go looking for something beautiful in nature to inspire me, I seem to always find myself drawn to the water’s edge.
…But sometimes other things need expressing, things not literally visible. I have another body of work, abstract paintings and drawings. I know (and am never surprised by) what they are about; the viewer can find their own meanings in them.
Selected Exhibits and Awards:
Colored Pencil Society of America, International Colored Pencil Exhibitions, various locations, 1993 (Artistic Merit Award); 1994, 95, 97, 98, 2002 (Award for Excellence), 04, 05, 07 (Award for Excellence), 10, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 2021; Signature Showcase, Delray Beach 2006
Colored Pencil Society of America, Explore This! Exhibitions: online, 2010 (Award for Excellence); 2011 (Award for Excellence); 2015 2020 (Award for Excellence) and 2020; in galleries, 2003 (Friends of CPSA Award); 2007
2022 Award for Outstanding Achievement
CPSA District Chapter 113—Gainesville FL shows 2000-22, numerous awards including Best of Show 2019
Lee County Alliance for the Arts, Ft Myers, All Florida 2017, Best of Show; H2O show 2021
Professional Association of Visual Artists member shows, 2002-2021, Best of Show, 2019, 2021
Annual International Miniature Art Shows
Miniature Art Society of Florida, 2002 – 2022, Judge for 2018 exhibition: numerous awards for human figure and drawing/pastel category
Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers Society of Washington, DC, Annual International Exhibition of Fine Art in Miniature, Washington, DC, 2006 – 21, numerous awards
Florida Artist Group Annual Exhibitions, 1997 – 2021; 3 Best of Show awards: 01, 06, 09, and others
Selected Arts Festival Awards:
Out of the Blue Festival of Art, Clearwater, FL 2004
(Award of Merit), 2005 (Honorable Mention)
2006 (Award of Distinction)
Lake Wales Art Show, Lake Wales, FL, 1996, 1997
(Award of Distinction), 2003 (Award of Distinction)
Palm Harbor Arts, Crafts & Music Festival, Palm Harbor, FL, 1994 (Award of Distinction); 1995 (Festival T-shirt);
1996 (Honorable Mention); 1997 (Award of Merit);
2002 (Honorable Mention)
Art Harvest, Dunedin, FL, 1993 – 97, 1996
Award of Distinction)
Images in Art, Ocala, FL, 1994 – 97
(1994 & 96, Awards of Honor, Purchase Awards)
Mainsail Arts Festival, St. Petersburg, FL, 1994 – 97, 1996
(Award of Merit)
Mt. Dora Arts Festival, Mt. Dora, FL, 1996
(Merit Award), 1997
Other Exhibitions Include:
Drawn to Water solo show, Pasco Hernando State College, New Port Richey, 2022
Drawn to Water solo show, Troy-Hayner Cultural Center,
Troy OH, 2021
Water’s Edge solo show, St Petersburg College,
Seminole FL, 2016
Return to the Water’s Edge (2015) and Water’s Edge (2009) solo shows, Pasco Hernando State College, New Port Richey
Ormond Memorial Museum, Surf’s Up! 1 and 2, Speed Invitational Exhibitions,
Ormond Beach, 2002, 2008, 2011, 2012
Florida Museum for Women Artists,
Deland, Inaugural Exhibition, 2009
Cornell Museum of Art, Inspirations 2003 statewide juried
show, Delray Beach, 2003
Between Sand and Sky, solo show,
Dunedin Fine Art Center, 2002
Tight Focus solo show, Dunedin Fine Art Center, 1996