Melody Joy Overstreet is a Jewish, Iranian-American poet, artist, printer, weaver, and community educator based in traditional Awaswas Territory, presently tended by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. She double majored in Studio Art and Psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she focused on Printmaking, Public Art, and Peace Studies. She has exhibited her work locally as well as internationally, and has pieces included in numerous public and private collections. Melody has participated in residencies with The Bolinas Commons, Kala Art Institute, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, a tiny casita in Abiquiu, New Mexico, Casa Regis, The Center for Culture and Contemporary Art in Italy, and the On Being Project. Her work has been shared through numerous galleries and museums including the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Gospel Flat Farms Gallery, the Natural History Museum, Radius Gallery, Madrone Arts Collective, LA HomeFarm, and Esalen Institute, among others.

In addition to her work as an artist, Melody is a teacher of many years. She is trained as a Master Gardener of California, is a Certified Life Lab Educator, as well as a certified California Naturalist through the UCSC Arboretum and Botanic Garden. She has helped initiate and tend three distinct school gardens, including Santa Monica College’s Organic Learning Garden, a space for cross-curricular engagement, the hands-on growing of food, seed saving, and community building. These spaces feature native, edible, medicinal, and dye plants for deepening consciousness of the ways in which nature is interwoven with and sustains our tenuous lives. Her educational approach emphasizes the importance of connection to our origins, one another, and place. She is also a co-founding member of Little Giant Collective, a community-run print studio located in Downtown, Santa Cruz, California. She is the recipient of a Gemological Award and a Peace Studio Fellowship for her work at the intersection of art, teaching, and land stewardship.

For inquiries or to connect, email Melody at melody.overstreet@gmail.com

Additional projects can be viewed Here.