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Peace Tokens
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Melanie McPherson
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I earned my Bachelors Degree in 2001 in the area of Fine Arts Photography from the College of Visual Arts, located on Summit Ave. in St. Paul, MN. I was also trained at the Defense Information School in Ft. Meade, MD for Photojournalism in 2000. However, my education in the arts truly began at home when I was very young. My mother was a High School art teacher for over 30 years in all areas of the arts, such as; ceramics, drawing, design, painting, photography and so fourth, also one of my Grandmothers, both of my Great-Grand Mothers were talented painters, and my uncle Gary Spetz is a well established watercolor artist currently showcased on PBS. I can say many of my family members are very creative people in the visual, theatrical and culinary arts. I have been very blessed to be inspired by such passionate and skilled people throughout my life. I studied ceramics in high school. At this time I was the teacher’s aid helping students throw on the wheel for two years, and I was also a resident artist at my mother’s high school for ceramics demonstrations. Between the years of 1996 and 2006 I had a long break in ceramics and focused on photography… This past year I have fallen back in love with pottery and use it as a medium to sell with proceeds dedicated to Peace. Please read on…
In my life: I have snorkeled the Salmon and Klamath Rivers in California in efforts to preserve the salmon population while I was an AmeriCorps Watershed Steward. During this 10-month program I worked with three Native American tribes, the Forrest Service, Fish and Game and two local schools. I also worked with troubled youth for 1.5 years in an accredited outdoor based camp in Vermont where I helped teach healthy social, and outdoor survival skills, cooking, reading, writing, history, the arts, maple syrup making, and we also canoed Florida rivers for 30 days as a group, among many other great things…I have traveled across the United States many times. I’ve experienced Baja Mexico, the Florida Keys; I photographed the Eiffel Tower, and have seen Stonehenge. I have also traveled to Korea and Germany, and almost to the Middle East as a Soldier in the Army… (I was an Inactive Ready Reserve Soldier for 5 years; I received mobilization orders in the mail on April 1st, 2006 assigning me to a Public Reserve Unit in Alabama as a 46Q- Photojournalist... Everything changed three days before I was to fly out… I never boarded the plane… Instead, later I was charged with Desertion and Missing-Movement and was sent to prison. Why? Because I was being sent under orders as an infantry support soldier without the proper training… I was trained and prepared to go as a photojournalist for a second time, yet my new set of orders, (which changed a week before I was to travel to Iraq), assigned me to a unit, who had already taken in hundreds of IRR Soldiers (trained or not), for the mission of convoying daily in Baghdad on gun-trucks… I was to be a gunner, driver or a military police officer- without training in these areas. I could not go under the complex conditions I faced… It could mean great consequences to those around me as well as myself. I chose prison…) Please visit my personal website displayed on this page for the greater story… If you have questions please feel free to e-mail me. Also, 20% of my pottery sales are donated to Vets for Peace Chapter 27.
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