Orsini, Melissa

As a child, Melissa began her creative journey by putting rocks and sticks together in patterns. She started sewing doll clothes and knitting in grade school and then graduated to making her own clothes. Later she started stringing beads, thus beginning her love affair with jewels, that carried over to the art she creates today. Her work includes precious and semi-precious stones set and woven into the pieces. Influenced heavily by the East, Melissa’s jewelry has an old world feel. Outside her home studio, she can be found at the Arkansas Arts Center Museum School where she is an instructor in the Jewelry and Small Metals department. To create her original jewelry, she uses bronze sterling fine silver, and gold, including black oxidation, and the art of Keum-Boo. Her pieces are for sale at the Arkansas Arts Center and other retail outlets. She lives and works in Little Rock, Arkansas and shares her home with her husband David, their rescue dog Annie and their 2 studio cats, Daisy and Rosie.