With a background in scientific illustration, Melissa Wagner's artwork uses a variety of methods and media to engage the natural world and illuminate its earthly remnants. A disparate falling of leaves, scattered branches, crushed shells, and dried ferns emerge from a painting's surface to create organic three-dimensional works that incorporate intense color, texture, and a perpetually changing surface. Through her work, Melissa strives to examine and magnify the disguised processes that envelope the living world while addressing issues concerning reproduction and the environment. Mixing the products of nature themselves with glossy synthetic resin coats, Melissa playfully composes her vision of a world that harnesses natural subjects to construct new models where art, earth, science, and wonder intersect. Melissa draws her inspiration from her love of nature and extensive local and global travels.