Melanie Therrien’s art studio is not far from where her grandparents worked in the once bustling mills of Lewiston. She is the only painter in her family, but her family, just like Lewiston, is full of people who possess ingenuity, creativity, and excellent work ethic. Melanie worked for 20 years in the service industry, which gave her a flexible schedule to work as a muralist and illustrator and take on other commissioned work.
In 2007, she co-founded Captive Elements Art House and began offering art classes and parties under Wicked Illustrations. Melanie eventually moved her studio to Auburn and then finally to Canal Street in Lewiston in 2015. She found a passion for civic engagement and public art in the growing downtown Lewiston Art District. She worked with the Union of Maine Visual Artists from 2015 to 2019, helping to create an LA Chapter. Through the chapter and her studio, she worked with community members and the city for art events, walks, and fundraisers.
Through the chapter and her studio, she worked with community members and the city for art events, walks, and fundraisers.
Melanie was honored to receive Uplift LA’s 40 Under 40 Creative Genius Award through the Androscoggin Chamber of Commerce in 2016.
The public art and installations she has been involved in can be seen on and around iconic and important places in her hometown, such as the Tree Streets, Simone’s Hot Dogs, The Public Theatre, Centreville Garage, and Mother India. The art includes creative crosswalks, murals, painted fire hydrants, and a series of “selfie wings” called #wickedwingslewiston. Most recently, she organized and executed a Traffic Control Box Public Art Project for all 48 boxes in Lewiston.
As a painter, her original work focuses on nature’s mystery, beauty, and power, primarily depicted in flora and fauna. Two of her ongoing series focus on educational portraits of female painters and a botanical style Roots Series, where her Strawberry piece won a Waterville Area Art Society Award in 2022. Melanie’s work can be seen in local businesses such as Hearth and Key, Blais Flower Shop, Downtown Handmade, and her own studio and gallery in Lewiston.
If you are a local LA artist, and would like your artworks featured in the Gallery Pages of the LA Metro Magazine, please send an email to
our publisher | Pam Ashby, at pam@LydiaMediaLLC.com