Mel Rosen
Rooted in the shifting landscapes of the Lowcountry, Mel Rosen’s drawings and ceramics respond to the fragile waterways and ecosystems near her home, where rising seas and ecological decline are constant concerns. The textures of her work emerge from these tidal environments where shells, barnacles and other sea remnants are transformed into meditations on resilience and change. Untethered by time, her pieces carry a sense of strangeness, echoing digital distortions alongside historic and mythic references such as Roman pottery and protective talismans. Evoking cycles of evolution, decay, and renewal, her works suggest shifting states of parasitism, mutualism, and mutation—revealing how material, spiritual, and digital artifacts adapt to survive, continually reshaped by time, environment, and interpretation.
Rosen holds an MFA from Tyler School of Art at Temple University and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, with additional study at Temple Rome and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. She exhibits nationally and internationally and currently lives and works in South Carolina.
Statement on Artificial Intelligence:
I approach artificial intelligence with both curiosity and critique. While it opens new creative possibilities and fast iteration, AI also raises questions around authorship, labor, and originality. I see AI as a powerful, inevitable addition to the artist’s toolbox and I use no images, styles or prompts sourced from other artists wherever I have control.
Though touched by AI, my work insists on the presence of my personal invention and my own hand, aspiring to make meaning through personal creativity, slowness and repetition.