K. Imperial Fine Art is pleased to present its third solo show of the work of Melissa Dickenson, Sonoma Charcoal: Rooted in Reverence. Dickenson is known for mixing her own paints with pigment she collects from the earth, grinding it up by hand, and making it into the most beautifully grounding paintings you’ve ever seen; luscious with place, and meaning, and heart. “Sonoma charcoal” is pigment made from the burnt wood and mineral she collected from the devastation left after the Kincade fires, exactly a year ago this month. And with Sonoma on our minds and in our hearts yet again Melissa is paying homage to our beloved California with her new show “Sonoma Charcoal: Rooted in Reverence”. Included in the show are hauntingly beautiful paintings and charcoal drawings of the Sonoma landscape. Each piece is a portrait of the place in which its pigments are derived. The striking black of the charred paint and drawing matter is the common thread throughout the works.
Dickenson’s work is rooted in reverence for the fragile state of our earth. The artist works with earth pigment and the landscape format as a method of connecting the body to a planet we as humans continually neglect. In combination with charcoal and pigments native to Sonoma County, Dickenson uses two non-native minerals (lapis lazuli blue and malachite green) to emphasize season and depict the narrative of an alarming cycle. Sonoma Charcoal is an homage to a beautiful place called California. To all of its moods, modes and states of being. A place I love and call home, and also a place where fire increasingly ravages the landscape year after year. -Melissa Dickenson
Melissa Dickenson received her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD and her MFA from California College of the Arts in San Francisco, CA. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States as well in Japan, Spain, and Poland. Melissa lives and works in San Francisco, California.
Sonoma Charcoal: Rooted in Reverence will be on view October 18 – November 30, 2020. The gallery is by-appointment only. Please contact kimperialfineart@me.com for inquiries.
