One of my favorite artists, Melinda Beck

One of the greatest things about working at Washington University is that each year the school brings in artists from all over the country to speak at our Visiting Artists lecture series. At one time I was involved in selecting and entertaining the artist who was brought in for my department, Communication Design. I love meeting, as I call them, the celebrity artists especially if they were one of my favorite artists. I would be as nervous as heck to meet them and tried not to swoon too much or get too tongue tied over them when they were at school.  About five years ago, Melinda Beck, illustrator most fabulous, was our department’s visiting artist. When I asked Melinda what she would like to do during the day before she spoke in the evening she said she would like to go junking and did I know any good spots in town....well duh this is a no brainer....do I know junking spots....that is like asking a frat boy if he knows what beer tastes like. I meet Melinda at the airport and took her for a big day of junking...we had loads of fun...turns out she likes to buy the same kinds of stuff as me.....plastic letters, trinkets, sewing items, vintage books. Only she said she cannot buy too much because she has no room to store extra stuff because she lives in a small apartment in Brooklyn. Of course, my husband Gary would say our house has no room for extra stuff but does that ever stop me from bringing stuff home.....no way. You can barely walk in my basement or my garage without tripping over all the stuff I have bought home to make more stuff. You can never have enough treasures. My daughter Annie is looking forward to making a lot of money off my stuff when I am gone because there is no way she is keeping all of it. She can probably travel around the world on the money she will make.


Some of my favorites of Melinda’s work