Melia Lott has been painting for twenty years.  She started painting with her sister in California.  Melia is a self-taught artist who’s art has been featured in her own gallery in Excelsior (Lake Minnetonka area), MN and her studio in N.E. Minneapolis in the Northrup King warehouse building.   Melia told me she paints from emotion using vivid colors and shapes to channel her inner “child-like” soul.  This was evidenced following the tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary school in Sandy Hook, Connecticut where twenty children and six adults were killed the deadliest mass school shooting in U.S. history.  Melia placed twenty-six blank canvasses in her studio next to a list of the victims’ names.   She began to paint as she felt the loss as many Americans did in the aftermath of the tragedy.  Melia found a spiritual connection with each of the victims and their families as she painted each “heart” on a canvas.  When she finished the 26th “heart” for each family, she looked up the Sandy Hook Elementary school on the internet and found a contact point on the school education board.   She emailed this one board member to let them know she wanted to send the “Twenty Six Hearts” out to someone for the families.  In ten minutes she received an email on a Sunday evening with a simple note to send the paintings to that person’s address.  Melia was overjoyed that she received a response.  She mentions that she tried to respond with an email to confirm a shipment there but the email server bounced back several messages so she didn’t know if her responses were received.  She proceeded to box up the “Twenty Six Hearts” and shipped it to the Sandy Hook address.  Some time went by and then she received an email back from the School Board member telling her the paintings were delivered to each of the families. Below is a photo of those original twenty-six heart paintings next to a list of the victims’ names before they were delivered to the families of Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy.  

Melia is inspired by other painters like Modigliani who’s style is more figurative, in her paintings of the human body.  She also found a passion for painting beautiful horses while she lived on a hobby farm.   The photo below shows a group of horse paintings that were arranged for a recent music and art show from one of our mutual friend’s David K’s Lake Minnetonka Navigator Magazine 20th Anniversary party.   I saw a painting in her studio of horses (mare and foal together) that caught my eye as I raised Arabian horses with my family in Cumberland back in the 1970’s and early 1980’s!    

Aside from hearts and horses, Melia loves to capture abstract representations of places she travels between the coasts of the U.S.   She tries to capture a panoramic view in a series of paintings that can be grouped together on a wall.   The city scape building group paintings are shown below.

Melia ‘s oil paintings have also been featured in the U.S. retail clothing chain Marshall Fields Home store and other corporate executive offices. Visualizing Melia’s art from the eyes of hundreds of shoppers and staff over months is enviable.  Melia tells me that she also has sold her art to home designers who’s clients have filled their rooms with her vivid colorful, abstract and figurative pieces. Attention! Realtors and Real Estate Investors please make note!    There is value in everything attached to real estate from the floor tiles to the incredible works of art.  

One of  Melia’s “Hearts” is featured in our office as a gift to us.  Melia will be one of our featured artists for current art piece sales and new custom work for corporate headquarters, professional office buildings and private homes.  Melia has four children (three daughters and a son) and currently resides in the Twin Cities area.  I recently met one of her daughters, Isabel, a wonderful painter herself, sitting with Melia at the same art and music show in Chaska, Minnesota. Isabel is a vibrant young lady who like her Mom, has a real passion for the arts.  Isabel plans to attend medical school next year with aspirations of becoming a specialty internist physician.  See the photo below.  

Melia Lott is one of our featured artists who’s work will be shown at our upcoming Wisconsin and Minnesota alternative asset education workshops, galleries, and special events.

For more information about Melia Lott’s available paintings for sale and inquiries about custom work for private homes, offices or businesses; please email jimt@alternativasolutions.com or call us at 715-318-4653.