Melissa Skowron was born in Calgary, Alberta where she received her Bachelors of Fine Art in Painting from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 2009. During her time at the college she focused her studies in painting to question the virility of acceptable forms of femininity in contemporary media.

After her studies, through her self directed studio work, she began to source her paintings from photographs of individuals which whom she shared a personal connection. This led to a more intuitive process, as the artist was forced to consider her real-life personal interactions with each individuals as well as the photographic images that were supplied. This process results in a portrait that is not an exact physical copy of the person but a display of their interpreted essential qualities. The artist may see hundreds of photos and those can quantify into one single painting that simultaneously over exceeds and is contingent on it’s photographical sources.


Melissa Skowron lives and paints in Calgary, Alberta.