Melinda K. Hall was born in Chicago, moving West to receive her BBA from Southern Methodist University in 1972. Hall was drawn by her love of the freedom and self-expression in artmaking, leaving her business in Texas to continue her education with graduate-level courses at New Mexico State University in 1987. In her work, Hall captures ordinary objects and simple pleasures. Her highly pigmented oil paintings are infused with humorous elements, playful images, and informal text; allowing the viewer to join in Hall’s spirited and child-like exploration of life. Her work has been shown in gallery and museum venues, public and private collections, and both nationally and internationally since 1990. Hall lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her adorable cat Skauti and Australian Shepherd pup, Piper. Hall describes her work as a visual journal, her personal commentary on life’s universal themes. The artist uses humor, metaphor, and playfulness to draw the viewer in. Hall’s quirky battleground of text and familiar subject matter pull us warmly into the four corners of a canvas sanctuary. The viewer is offered comfort in the boundaries of her paintings, a respite after a taxing day. For Hall, cuteness is a weapon; used deftly in concert with brush and pigment. In Hall’s work we seek shelter in the cozy, in the cherished intimacy of the everyday: a refuge from the world’s unknown.