Melissa Young

Melissa Young has been sculpting since 1993, she works generally in bronze and produces delicate figurative pieces. Melissa enjoys playing around with figures and objects, finding the right balance between the forms, seeing what works or doesn’t. “I think I have always had a knack for spatial awareness - I am the one who packs the luggage when we go away, maximizing the space available in the boot of our car”.
By default Melissa’s inspiration has come from her family… Since becoming a parent, parenthood, the antics of her family and finding the right work/life balance have provided her with a lot of material to draw from. Being creative has allowed Melissa to vent her frustrations in a very healthy way. “A lot of my work is a social commentary on (my) life”. When her pieces are ready to be cast, they are cast using the lost wax method.
Melissa lives and works in Island Bay, Wellington with her husband and their young daughter. When she is not creating or nagging her family, Melissa enjoys having a free day to stay in her PJs and do absolutely nothing (or maybe read a book).

Background
In 1986-89 Melissa completed the Industrial Design course at Wellington Polytechnic. In 1993 she began sculpting and from 1998 actively started selling her work in galleries throughout New Zealand.