Meet the 2014 Double Decker Poster Artist

 
 
Creative, young artist, Melanie Munns, is the face behind this year’s Double Decker Arts Festival poster illustration.

The unique illustration is painted with acrylics and features Oxford’s famous Double Decker bus floating in the sky, carried by balloons, something she sketched in her free time while working at the University Museum.
Munns started drawing around the age of three, mimicking illustrations of birds from an encyclopedia; she was the only member of her family to have a big interest in art. Growing up, she never thought it was realistic to have a career as an artist.
However, after graduating high school, she attended Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., where she received her bachelor’s in Illustration. Taking a year off, Munns moved to Oxford to attend graduate school at Ole Miss in 2010. She received her master’s in Sculpture last May.

Various artists inspire Munns, including Lu Kong and Mark Ryden.
“I like that Ryden’s color palettes are not what you would see, and I think that’s what you should be as an artist,” Munns said. “We live in a time of photography, so as an artist, its our job to improve upon things and manipulate reality with color, and the scenario. Obviously, there aren’t balloons big enough to carry a bus, like in my illustration I did for Double Decker.”
The Double Decker Arts Festival pushed Munns to become more commercial with her work and the community has had a positive effect on her artwork.
“Oxford is such a supportive community, I defiantly see myself here for a couple more years, Oxford is the kind of town that supports local artist,” Munns said.
The illustration took Munns about 20 hours to finish, starting with a sketch, and then painting with acrylics. Munns started out with two sketches and then one was picked by the arts council.
“It wasn’t a hard design since it was objected based; the most difficult part of the illustrations was coming up with an idea for the balloons,” Munns said.
Since graduation, Munns feels her artwork is more honest and she always creates art that she enjoys. During the week,  Munns can be found working at the University Museum and, on the weekends, she spends time with her art.
This year, the Double Decker Arts Festival is April 25-26 on the Oxford Square. Munns will have a booth to feature her artwork, as well as t-shirts and prints of this year’s poster design. To learn more about Munns and her work, visit her website at https://melaniemunns.com/.
– Katelyn Patterson is a student in the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. She can be contacted by emailing klpatter@go.olemiss.edu.