Melinda Ostraff
EDUCATION
2004 — PhD, Environmental Science & Human Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC
1996 — MS, Botany, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
1994 — BS, Mathematics, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
Joseph Evan Ostraff
EDUCATION
1984 — MFA, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
1982 — BFA, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT
SELECTED ACTIVITIES (2015–2026)
SOLO / TWO-PERSON / SMALL GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Floralis, Two-person collaboration, Nüart Gallery, Santa Monica, CA (2026)
Our Delicate Ecosystems, Group exhibition, Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2025)
Monuments, Two-person exhibition, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (2025)
Rocks & Strings, Two-person exhibition, Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2025)
The Secret Garden, Group exhibition, Spori Gallery, Rexburg, ID (2025)
Confluence, Two-person exhibition, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (2024)
Botanicals, Two-person exhibition, Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2024)
MOJO.ie, Two-person exhibition, Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2023)
Liminal, Two-person exhibition, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (2022)
Our Diminishing Great Salt Lake, Group exhibition, Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2022)
Abstractions 2021, Five-person exhibition, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (2021)
Collective Deliberations, Solo exhibition, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (2020)
Our Global Climate Emergency, Group exhibition, Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2020)
Abstraction, Five-person group exhibition, Nüart Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (2019)
Compression: Recent Works, Two-person exhibition, Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2017)
Turf, Solo exhibition, Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, MA (2015)
Recent Works, Solo exhibition, Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2015)
JURIED EXHIBITIONS
I NEVER READ A BOOK, Book Art Fair, Basel, Switzerland (2025)
801 Book Art Fair, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, UT (2025)
Statewide Annual UT ’25: Painting, Sculpture, and Installation, Southern Utah Museum of Art, Cedar City, UT (2025)
INPA 10: International Painting Annual, juried publication (2024)
Contemporary Painting, Manifest Creative Research Gallery and Drawing Center, Cincinnati, OH (2023)
The First Biennial Exhibition, Ballinglen Museum of Art, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo, Ireland (2023)
Transcending the West, Artworks Center for Contemporary Art, Loveland, CO (2022)
Shape in All Its Forms, Site: Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY (2021)
Utah Governor’s Mansion Collection Exhibition, Salt Lake City, UT (2021)
The Blocks, Main Street kiosks exhibition, Salt Lake City, UT (2020)
Statewide Annual Exhibition: Painting & Sculpture, Utah Division of Arts & Museums, Salt Lake City, UT (2020)
Utah Cultural Celebration Center, Salt Lake City, UT (2017–2020):
Common Ground
Be It Ever So Humble
Book Works
Works on Paper, Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts & Sciences, Loveladies, NJ (2019)
CASPFEST National Juried Exhibition, 5&J Gallery, Lubbock, TX (2019)
Odd Nature, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe, NM (2019)
Utah’s 15, Rio Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2019)
Recent Works, Three-person exhibition, Phillips Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2019)
Abstraction at Large, Site: Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY (2018)
Ink, Press, Repeat, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ (2018)
Works on Paper 2018, Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts & Sciences, NJ (2018)
Roots and Branches, Springville Museum of Art, Springville, UT (2018)
International Juried Exhibition, Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminster, NJ (2017)
Connect / Disconnect / Reconnect, NorthArt Center, Auckland, New Zealand (2017)
Order and Chaos, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY (2017)
When Things Are Strange, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND (2017)
Statewide Annual: Painting, Sculpture, & Installation, Rio Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2017)
What If?, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY (2016)
Painting and Seeing, University of North Carolina Wilmington, NC (2016)
Breaking the Mold, Cape Cod Museum of Art, MA (2016)
The Weight of the World, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (2015)
Sustainability Solutions Festival, Phoenix, AZ (2015)
Balance-Unbalance 2015, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (2015)
COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS + EXHIBITIONS
Weeds, Seeds, and Wonder, community-based installation, Averitt Center for the Arts, Statesboro, GA (2026)
Work in Progress Murals (with Jann Haworth and Liberty Blake), World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland (participant, 2025)
See Me, international sticker project (2024):
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA
SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
Prince George’s Community College, Largo, MD
Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA
West Desert, UT
Inherit, international multidisciplinary exhibition (2022–2024):
Springville Museum of Art, UT
Ballinglen Art Center, Ireland
Chester University, UK
Breaking Bread, community drawing installation, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, GA (2024)
Greenhouse Project, Finch Lane Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT; Averitt Center, GA (2024)
Lines Through Time, Averitt Center; Georgia Southern University (2023)
Drawn Together, Mesa Arts Center; i.d.e.a. Museum; Arizona Museum of Natural History (2022)
Don’t Read This (V1–V3), Salt Lake City Public Library; Springville Museum of Art; Union Station, Ogden, UT (2021–2022)
Bio.graphic, cooperative drawing project (2021–2022)
Breaking Labyrinths, Santa Fe; Liverpool, UK (2020–2021)
Oddsplace(s), cooperative book arts project (2019–2020)
Okjökull, ágúst 2019 – Vatnajökull, ágúst 2219, international collections project (2020–2021)
Bee in Her Bonnet, book arts project (2019–2020)
Waiting, installation (2016–2018)
Woman/Women, collaborative exhibition (2017)
Mapping Our Turf, Limerick School of Art & Design, Ireland (2015)
Western Wilds, book arts exhibition, Chester University, UK (2015)
Let It Flow, community installation, Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ireland (2015)
SELECTED AWARDS (2015–2025)
Fellowship Award and Artist Residency, Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Ireland (2025, 2022, 2015)
Governor’s Mansion Award, Salt Lake City, UT (2024)
Utah Arts Council Fellowship Award (2010, 1998, 1993)
Utah’s 15: The State’s Most Influential Artists, Rio Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT (2019)
Artist Residency, Heinrich Böll Residency, Achill Island, Ireland
Contact Us
Emails:
mwostraff@gmail.com (Melinda)
josephostraff9@gmail.com (Joe)
kalebostraff@gmail.com (Kaleb)
zachary.ostraff@gmail.com (Zac)
e.ostraff@gmail.com (Elise)
hannahostraff@gmail.com (Hannah)
thinwalls.studio@gmail.com (Josh)
alexis.fryer@gmail.com (Alexis)
jennyostraff@gmail.com (Jenny)
Affiliated Links:
mojo2.net
mojo2.art
ostraffworks.com
thinwallsstudio.com
unfolding-books.com
nuartgallery.com
phillips-gallery.com