Rick Melby, MBRA’s Artist in Residence

Rick Melby & Michelle Funk

Rick Melby & Michelle Funk

Rick Melby, accomplished glass artist and neighborhood activist, echoes another local entrepreneur, saying, “we wanted to not just move to Peoria, but become a part of Peoria.”

And he has succeeded admirably in the past seven years. He recalls being welcomed to the neighborhood in 2009 by Jim Evenhuis, who was the president of the Moss- Bradley Residential Association, and came bearing a plate of brownies and an invitation to join the organization. Since then Rick has served as a MBRA board member and is the current Vice President. He keeps an eagle eye on the happenings in his Barker Avenue neighborhood, including the dog walkers and Bradley students, and has established a friendly rapport with the University and City Code Enforcement.

Rick, along with his wife, Michelle, landed in Peoria after a series of moves that in his telling sounds like “Rick’s Excellent Adventures in Art and Life” One encounter in a search for housing early in his career, started with the question, “What’s your sign?” When it turned out that Rick and the interviewer shared not only an astrological sign, but a birthday, he was shoo-in for the space!

His early beginnings were ruled by the postings of his father’s military career. A turning point happened in the mid sixties with a move to Satellite Beach, Florida with it’s lure of ocean and the new space age rocket launchings. There he signed up for junior high classes in Art rather than endure the more threatening “Shop” option.

After high school it was on to the University of South Florida in Tampa, where Rick had a love/hate relationship with academia and as he says, “escaped” with an Associate of Arts degree. Settling into the real world, he was attracted by a mid-seventies popular resurgence of the art of stained glass. He jokes that his first commission was not glass of the decorative variety, but a request to craft a replacement draft window for a friend’s automobile. (You may have to be of a certain age to know what a draft window is…).

The historic Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa beckoned and for several years Rick maintained a studio there where he added three dimensional blown and kiln glass art to his repertoire and made a significant move in his art career by following an impulse to pursue crafting lighting fixtures . Eventually, attracted by the mountain setting and the Penland Art School, Rick’s move to Ashville, North Carolina was kismet – he became a part of the thriving art community there, opened a small show room, connected with glass artist and Midwest native, Hiram Toraason, and in what he says was the most important decision in his life, married Michelle Funk.

So, inspired by the opportunity for artistic stretching, Michelle’s Midwest family roots, and Toraason’s encouragement, Rick and Michelle came to Peoria. They found themselves intrigued by the possibilities for home and hearth in the West Bluff area and the challenges in engaging in the arts community.

At Hiram Toraason’s invitation, Rick became a member of the steering committee for the newly established CIAO First Friday which has burgeoned into a successful showplace for Arts in Peoria. You’ll find him regularly at First Friday demonstrations at Toraason Glass studio and gallery. Rick has also had his own show at Exhibit A Gallery in Peoria Heights and his art has been selected for display in the innovative and popular local ArtPop project. You can check for current location on the ArtsPartners website, artspartners.net