Bowen Galleries is proud to present Melanie Mills’ first exhibition with us, These summer days.

The title of the exhibition, These summer days, has been sourced from a line in Jenny Bornholdt’s poem, Jack’s Shirt, from Summer, THWUP 2003.

‘They are mostly summer subjects and many of the plants I found growing wild. I prefer ordinary overlooked uncultivated subjects that might be here without human intervention.’

Melanie Mills lives and works in her home studio, Karori, Wellington.

A self taught still-life painter, working mainly in oils, she is inspired by her personal environment. Every window of her home overlooks lush, overgrown and much loved gardens, where wildlife thrives. She finds joy in the pleasure of quiet meditation on these subjects. It is ever present in her work. She is a collector, a frequent op-shopper. As a result her studio is filled with the accoutrements of still life – jugs, urns, arrangements of flowers, foliage, weaving, fabrics and a sizeable library of art volumes, all providing constant inspiration.