Melanie Sherman was born in Germany and currently resides and works in Kansas City, Missouri. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in ceramics from the Kansas City Art Institute. Her background is in graphic design, where she developed an eye for pattern and decoration. In her ceramics she combines her love for ornamentation and her fascination with the history of ceramics, referencing 18th century European porcelain.
Melanie has travelled to China, Japan, Hungary, France, Luxembourg, Holland, England, and Germany to explore ancient and contemporary porcelain productions and the instilled taste for prestigious porcelain wares. She has been a resident at the International Ceramics Studio in Kecskemét, Hungary where she studied with the renowned Latvian artist Ilona Romule and deepened her love for designing with plaster and detailed porcelain painting. As a resident at The Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China, she developed her own designs with skilled local craftsman into a new body of work, exploring the relationship between the cultures, and how they continue to connect and influence each other through the ceramic arts. Melanie has also worked as a resident artist at The Archie Bray Foundation and Anderson Ranch, creating new forms and working on glaze formulations that compliment her studies of historic porcelain wares.
Melanie has exhibited her work internationally, including Hungary, Canada and America. She was awarded the 2014 Regina Brown Undergraduate Fellowship from the National Council for Education of the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) and the 2014 Windgate Fellowship Award by The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design.