Discover Port Townsend.com is pleased to present our Featured Artist for February 2024, Melissa Moller. Melissa works with driftwood, reclaimed woods, resin and stained glass to create her magnificent, one-of-a-kind art pieces, ranging from cactus lights to mirror and table bases. She shows her work at Gallery-9 on Water Street and is currently one of its artists of the month. 

Artist's Statement

Woodworker Artist, Melissa Moller www.discoverporttownsend.com

Flow StudiosMelissa Moller
My Movement of Creativity                                                  
FLOW STUDIOS was created based on this foundation as quoted from “Flow The Psychology of the Optimal Experience” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Life is the flow of energy. It is the air we breathe, the force that moves the weather, the force of all minds combined. It keeps the rivers flowing, our hearts beating, and the sky blue. This flow of energy moves constantly according to the fixed points that exist at any given moment. Therefore, by manipulating the cardinal points of our lives, we can change the flow. The freedom to choose and to change belongs to us.”

FLOW is the way people describe their state of mind when consciously engaging in the experience in front of them. They pursue whatever it is for its own sake. Flow is the movement of creativity. I believe the culmination of all I have done throughout my life has led me to find my flow in working with driftwood, reclaimed woods, resin and stained glass. I get lost in the direction the wood takes me to bring its beauty to the surface and create a new purpose for it and its beauty.

I spent my young growing years in the DC area, Colorado and Washington. The exposure to different art and elements of life has been influential in my creativity with wood.

I completed my degree in Washington State while fishing summers in Alaska. The best years of my life, so far, were spent working summers on a salmon seiner in Alaska and working with high school students in the winter. The raw beauty of both! Alaska for its undiluted nature and students for their undiluted minds.

I learned the art of stain glass in the early 2000’s. Right away I began doing large projects. Door, sidelights, stain glass fountains. I love the flow of glass and expressing myself though the medium. I started putting glass with driftwood which the flow of light illuminated the wood. I began thinking I want to do more with wood. This is when my journey with driftwood and reclaimed wood creations began.

I drove every weekend to Sequim/Port Angeles area to take lessons in the refined art of hand carving and finishing wood. I learned to trust the spirit and work with the flow of the wood. I use found and reclaimed wood. No finished piece is the same. Some pieces show the depth of use by other animals for their homes and food. Some show the piece’s journey in the waters. I respect nature and try to bring these journey’s to life. Each piece of wood is unique and has a story. I expanded my exploration of wood as a medium by adding glass, rocks and resins to enhance the over all piece.

In 2013 I created Sea Hags Home Décor in Gig Harbor. The shop featured unique local and national Artists as well as global Artisans which satisfied my desire for the unusual in art, furnishings and light. Life changes in 2018 had me focus more on my own flow and my wood art.

My husband and I moved to Port Townsend from Gig Harbor in March of 2022. We both have always loved it here. He would spend weeks here with his fishing boat hauled out at the port. I would come to visit him and this fabulous community.

I now display and sell my wood creations at Gallery 9. All the mediums I use fulfill my creative side but I am always open to new movements in my creativity. The ebb and flow of creativity evolves and thank goodness it never stops.

Melissa Moller Gallery (click on each image to enlarge)

Maple Burle Mirror

Maple Burle Mirror