Elsa María Meléndez

Crafting Stories in Print and Installation

Elsa María Meléndez, an acclaimed printmaker and installation artist, graduated in Fine Arts from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. Her journey in the arts includes independent mural painting studies and a pivotal Exhibit Design Workshop by the Smithsonian Institute. A gifted educator, she has taught drawing and printmaking to various age groups.

Meléndez’s talent was recognized with the First Prize in Print at the Ateneo Puertorriqueño’s Certamen de Artes Plásticas in 2006 and the Becas Lexus in 2010. Her professional roles include Exhibits Coordinator at Museo de Arte de Caguas and a significant contribution to the Bienal de Escultura en Concreto del Municipio de Caguas since 2003.

Her unique artistic signature is evident in her narrative boxes, which blend graphic displays, embroidery, and sewing to tell compelling stories.

**Artist Statement:**

In her installations, Meléndez creates immersive experiences, inviting interaction and evoking a spectrum of emotions. Her art, a blend of comfort and disarray, explores vulnerability and transformation. Through repetitive processes of sewing, tearing, and embroidering, she crafts pieces that narrate transience and metamorphosis.

Her work, often featuring human figures, delves into themes like innocence, fragility, and human complexities. Meléndez’s creations are visual diaries, capturing everyday idiosyncrasies and challenging the viewer with playful elements and multi-layered realities.

Her approach transcends traditional printmaking, adding dynamic, three-dimensional qualities and leaving compositions intriguingly unfinished, inviting viewers to engage in a continuous exploration of art and emotion.