BIO

Natural phenomena | Solo Exhibition
29 April - 16 May 2026

Melanie is an abstract painter based between Auckland and Wānaka, Aotearoa, New Zealand.

A deeply creative child, she spent hours drawing and playing music, but struggled with perfectionism and moved away from painting in her teens, pursuing a career in graphic design instead. She went on to work in publishing in both the UK and New Zealand, including roles at Fashion Quarterly, Creative Director for ACP’s home titles, and was awarded Art Director of the Year at the Magazine Publishing Awards.

After stepping away to raise her children, Melanie spent several years studying counselling and family therapy, during which time she discovered art therapy and process-based art practices. She later trained as a Process Arts tutor, teaching from her own studio, and now sees this period of time as her own ‘creative rehabilitation’ working through perfectionism and finding her way back to an intuitive approach to making.

In her mid-forties, Melanie returned to painting, studying at Browne School of Art in Auckland, where she spent five years immersed in a painting education grounded in abstraction. Her work was first noticed by Frame Gallery during her second exhibition with Browne and Natural Phenomena is her second solo exhibition with the gallery. Her work explores intuition, energy, and the space between the seen and unseen.

In our Q&A, A Deepening into Light with Melanie Field, the artist explores intuition, restraint, and a subtle move from control into flow. Click here to read the conversation.