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Melissa Ball is a Pennsylvania artist who is especially noted for her unique and highly detailed artwork on turkey tail feathers.
She enjoys painting a variety of subjects, but her primary focus usually turns toward white-tailed deer and turkeys, the most prominent wildlife in her area. Since Melissa’s feathers are all originals (not a detailed reproduction), The majority of her business is custom requests and orders. This allows the customer to relay exactly what they are looking for (i.e.: subject, season, etc) Which in a sense enables them to participate in the art, making it that much more special.
Melissa’s most personal custom work is one of her specialties, the “Portrait Feather”. CLICK HERE for an example. For these unique pieces, the customer supplies her with a special photo of themselves or a loved on (usually with a prize trophy), and this moment is captured with a feather painting.
In addition to painting on feathers, Melissa is also a print artist. After publishing several pieces on her own (most of which are no longer available), she began a relationship with the National Wild Turkey Federation and has been doing artwork for them for the last several years.
In 2001, her painting “April Fools” (pictured below) won the NWTF’S Grand National Art Contest, and Melissa has been commissioned by them each year to present date to produce a painting for their National Banquet Package. Melissa was honored to be named the NWTF’S Featured Artist of the Year in 2003.
To learn more about Melissa and her art, CLICK HERE to view a 2004 recent newspaper article. ( Requires Adobe Acrobat )
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