An exploration in the art of letting go.
Melody Maleitzke is a collage artist who specialize in creating art using washi tape. She approaches her subject matter with the Zen-influenced “art of letting go.” By using washi tape as her main medium, her ephemeral art changes with the lighting, the angle, and over time gives into the truth that nothing is permanent. It is through this knowledge of impermanence that she explores the interconnectedness of all life. She hides messages in her works to draw viewers closer, to question its meaning, relationship to the image, and to discover connection.
Isabella (on left) - first washi tape artwork Dreaming Buddha (on right)
Melody Maleitzke - Artist
How I began
creating art using washi tape
In college, Melody fell in love with surrealism and liked making bold, surprising images, like replacing the Washington Monument with a bird of paradise at the Lincoln Memorial pool. Her work began to focus on the fragile, fleeting nature of things, ideas, and lives. She kept exploring floral design, crafts, jewelry, and sculpture, and taught those arts for many years. She also wrote and made art for children’s and comic books, and won a San Diego Comic-Con Masquerade award for an original costume, Elytra, built from hand-sewn beetle shells with a large painted beetle on the back.
In 2019, she discovered washi tape, bought more than she needed, and one day asked her daughter to join her in “painting” with it. They made portraits of each other, and Melody found her calling. Washi tape became her medium — delicate, patterned, and always changing, reflecting the “art of letting go.” She lives and works on Bainbridge Island, Washington and is inspired by the Pacific Northwest.