Winter 2024

TxP (Textiel Plus) article | Winter 2024 - The Netherlands

Semper Washington (Greedy Goods), 2014 - 6 embroidered $1 bills, red satin thread, lead, gold leaf, silver, tar, flock, needles, and copper, mahogany, glass, 10” x 10” x 20”

Melissa Caldeen’s Borduursels: Custodians of Historical and Community Stories

Melissa Calderon (1974), from the Bronx, New York, honors her Puerto Rican background through her work. At a young age, her grandmother introduced her to the world of needle and thread, and from local artists she learned to embroider it. These early experiences have shaped both her passion for embroidery and influenced her creative path.

Link to website

SPRING 2019

Finally. Its slightly warm outside.

Spring’s been spent with epoxy concrete mixtures, patina samplings, and bronze casting. Sugarcanes and Baseball bats aplenty.

Ive created an Instagram for Para Roberto - @ParaRobertoBx. It will be the place where ill post about the monument from concept to completion. Like and Stay Tuned.

Below’s a sneak peek from my most recent visit to the Polich Tallix foundry in Upstate NY. No patina. No coatings. A freshly welded work in progress.

…and some sugarcanes peeking out from the side ;-)

The oversized “Abuelo” chair for Para Roberto. Made from casted baseball and stickball bats. “pinky”balls included.

The oversized “Abuelo” chair for Para Roberto. Made from casted baseball and stickball bats. “pinky”balls included.


On another note…

I am delighted to be in a group show, Hand and I, at Dorsky Curatorial in Long Island City. I have 3 works - including 2 brand new large-scale wood embroideries - fresh off my residency at Wave Hill this winter.

Orinoco, 2019. Embroidery on Wood Panel, 30” x 40”.Inspired by the recent uprisings and political upheval of Venezuela, I embroidered the country as an oil spill running off the side of the work, relating the country’s inherent sovereignty with the …

Orinoco, 2019. Embroidery on Wood Panel, 30” x 40”.

Inspired by the recent uprisings and political upheval of Venezuela, I embroidered the country as an oil spill running off the side of the work, relating the country’s inherent sovereignty with the corporate greed which seeks to destroy it.

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Winter 2019

It seems that I have sewn forever. And this winter has been no different.

WINTER WORKSPACE @ WAVE HILL

This winter I am in residence at beautiful Wave Hill, creating a new body of work called Wood Wounds. A snippet about my work there:

Calderón looks forward to exploring numerous species of bare trees on Wave Hill’s grounds and in the woodlands during the winter season, sketching these vegetal forms and translating their patterns into embroidery. Wood panels serve as metaphors for “fallen men,” as well as for bruised and scarred skin, upon which she builds further layers of stitched thread.

The beginnings of Wood Wounds, 3 x 4 ft, embroidery on wood

The beginnings of Wood Wounds, 3 x 4 ft, embroidery on wood


PELEA

Also, Opening in February is Pelea - Visual Responses to Spatial Precarity at NYU. The exhibition will explore how artists are responding to displacement through their work and practice and will provide a platform for examining visual strategies among contemporary Latinx artists.

This exhibition is curated by Arlene Dávila, Professor and founder of The Latinx Project

I have reimagined and revisited a new series of work called My Underemployed Life - a nod to my previous series of embroidered works addressing the precarious and perpetual financial twilight of an artist.

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Work In Progress | Prone - My Underemployed Life, Embroidery on raw linen, 11” x 14” 2019

Work In Progress | Prone - My Underemployed Life, Embroidery on raw linen, 11” x 14” 2019

PARA ROBERTO UPDATE

I call it my “belly button” on the plaza.

But soon, there will be a large-scale fully bronze dedication to Roberto Clemente and Puerto Rico standing there. Its been a very long gestation period that is finally coming to birth. I am beyond excited, exceedingly nervous, but grateful to have my work permanently placed in the South Bronx.

My “Belly Button” - Roberto Clemente Plaza - 149th St @ 3rd Ave, BXNY, Winter 2019

My “Belly Button” - Roberto Clemente Plaza - 149th St @ 3rd Ave, BXNY, Winter 2019

SPRING 2018

Spring is finally back and thankfully there has been much to do.

I will be doing a weekly performance at Hunter College's East Harlem Gallery during its presentation of QUEENIE | Female artists selected from El Museo del Barrio's permanent collection. I was honored to have been asked to do a performance near and dear to me called Ave Maria, in dedication to those lives lost in Puerto Rico during and after Hurricane Maria.

I will be at the gallery once a week til mid June doing my performance. Check my instagram @missyfoosy for more info.

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QUEENIE:
Selected artworks by female artists from El Museo del Barrio's Collection

March 21 - June 23, 2018

New artwork commissions by Melissa Calderón, Alessandra Expósito, and Glendalys Medina.

QUEENIE features a selection of artworks by female artists across various media from the Permanent Collection of El Museo del Barrio. The exhibition highlights the institution’s collection with a particular focus on the female artists and QUEENIE takes its title from a sculpture by Alessandra Expósito. The exhibition brings together works which prompt a multifarious dialogue around society and gender through the artists’ varying perspectives and experiences. As part of the exhibition, HEHG has invited three NYC-based artists to respond to the exhibition with a new commission that further explores the connections among the collecting process, societal change, and gendered experience.

Para Roberto

One of my favorite images of all the images I have been working on. This is a material sample of what my painted stainless steel sugar cane stalks will look like as well as other images of my updated design. 

I am beyond excited for the next steps...

Spring | Summer 2017

Winter has been a hell. Looking forward to humid days, museum trips, and maybe a visiting a friend in New Mexico soon. Healing, recovering, taking each day to make work, excercise and get back to being me again...

 - I have a year long UnoXUno commission @ El Museo del Barrio lobby. The coastlines of Puerto Rico and Vieques embroidered on wood panels

 - Upcoming show @ Fresh Window gallery in Brooklyn curated by Nora Nieves. 3 new works!

 - Working hard on Para Roberto for Percent for Art. Read more about it from Robert Waddell

 

 

Fall Updates

Busy Busy Fall Season. I love it though. Still learning, still making work. Writing novellas and designing my own card game. Conspiring with epoxy and rubber. Making plans.  Feeling centered.

My work is currently on view in 4 exhibitions- The Rockefeller Bros Foundation in NYC, African American Museum in Philly, BoriMix at The Clemente, & Work in Progress at Bronx River Art Center.

NYC Percent for Art, 2016

I am beyond excited to have presented my design for NYC Percent for Arts' Roberto Clemente Plaza commission at The Hub in the South Bronx.  Thank you to artists Xavier Figueroa, Josue Guarionex and Andre Trenier for being amazing and inspiring throughout the process.

My Inspirations for Para Roberto

Proposed Design Concept

The Arctic in Puerto Rico this November

I was happy to be invited to show work at la Galeria de Arte USC in Puerto Rico as part of the Frescos exhibition, curated by Frescos editor Celina Nogueras Cuevas.

Part of my just finished work, The Arctic Extent 1979 - 2035 will be on view. 

The Arctic Meltdown, 1982|2011|2035, Embroidered plywood, 15.5" x 15." x 68" each. 2015

The Arctic Meltdown, 1982|2011|2035, Embroidered plywood, 15.5" x 15." x 68" each. 2015

New Work! No Longer Empty | When You Cut Into the Present the Future Leaks Out

Last week, No Longer Empty's new show opened in the Old Bronx Courthouse. I was happily included in the show and centered my work around the "cost" of Revitalization in The Bronx. Continuing with my new series of embroidered wood, each piece is dedicated to my borough, the place I grew up, where my grandfather helped enact change for the Puerto Rican community, the place I still call home.  I have 3 works in the show: The South Bronx Gold Rush of 2015, 42nd Injustice, & The Bronx River.

The Bronx River, 2105 thread embroidered on plywood. 3 panels, 4ft each

Press links about the show:

ArtFCity article, July, 2015

New York Times article, July 13th, 2015

Hyperallergic article, July 2015

Gothamist Image Gallery

DNAINFO Article - Massive Bronx Art Exhibit Reignites Borough's Gentrification Debate

ABOUT THE SHOW

No Longer Empty is pleased to present When You Cut into the Present the Future Leaks Out at the Old Bronx Borough Courthouse. Built 1905–1914 and attributed to architects Michael John Garvin and Oscar Florianus Bluemner, the Courthouse, once boasting granite floors, lavish stairways, and bronze doors, remains adorned by a statue of Lady Justice. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Bronx County, the Beaux Arts-style building has been shuttered for 37 years.

The Old Bronx Borough Courthouse is taken as both site and theme: a time capsule, witness, and symbol existing within a plurality of narratives about its future role in the neighborhood. Referencing a quote by Beat generation poet William S. Burroughs, When You Cut into the Present the Future Leaks Out echoes approaches attributed to cut-up poetry, early Hip-Hop, Spoken Word, and the sculptural practice of artist Gordon Matta-Clark, who sliced into urban spaces as social commentary. The exhibition will occupy three floors and include the works of 26 artists and site-specific works commissioned by No Longer Empty. Curated by Regine Basha for No Longer Empty

Viewing hours: April 23–July 19, Thursday–Sunday, 1–7pm

Location: 878 Brook Ave (at East 161 St and Third Ave). Directions: 2 or 5 train to 3 Ave-149 St, walk northeast on Third Ave, left onto Brook Ave.