MELISSA KLEIN

Artist • Muralist • Illustrator • Author • Comedian • Instructor

Melissa Klein lives in Sequim, WA. She has shown in Philadelphia, Kauai, and the Olympic Peninsula. Her artwork is featured in books, magazines, and murals. Clients include Classic MoonFest, North Olympic Library System, Irvine Investment Group, Sparket, Peninsula Taproom, Sweet Spot Frozen Yogurt, Rainshadow Coffee, Inked Out Contracting, Kauai Children’s Discovery Museum, & the Fairchild Tropical Garden.

She works in a variety of mediums and styles from colored inks and watercolors, traditional oils, acrylics, airbrush, digital, and a unique style of crackle-milk paint layered with mixed media that she created. She earned a BFA from the University of Pennsylvania (1990) and a Masters of Initial Teaching from Gonzaga University (2003). She founded and taught Commercial Art at the North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center in Port Angeles from 2012-17 and has taught at Peninsula College and the Northwind Arts Center and now out of Dandelion Botanical!

Her best-known work is chalkboard signage for Nash’s Organic Farm Store in Sequim. This combines a love of lettering skills, illustration, and marketing collaboration to help publicize the value of organic and local food. She also creates large-scale murals - most recently on an airplane hangar!

She is the author of a novel titled “Match-Liss” which is about dating after 18 years of being out of the game, which was like being dropped off on the moon without a map. Inspired by the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, she used the material from Match-Liss to perform stand-up comedy.

She is an avid animal lover and is owned by two Percheron draft horses (the good one in horse heaven), one dog, and one cat.