“Dolls, textiles and making things were part of everyday life throughout my childhood, the joy they brought me developed into a passion that compelled my creative pursuits and launched my continued and varied career in the arts”.

Melanie Wesley makes playful, tactile worlds from textiles, clay, and found materials. Working slowly and deliberately, she stitches and sculpts figurative pieces, miniatures, and wall art that carry the warmth of handwork and the patina of reclaimed materials. Vintage lace, natural fibres, antique buttons, and vintage fabrics find new lives as characters and keepsakes—each piece intentionally imperfect, quietly eccentric, and made to be loved for generations.

Melanie’s practice blends traditional craft techniques with mixed media experimentation. She sources fabrics and trims with an eye for history and texture, honouring the original life of each element while transforming it into something new and whimsical. Her clay figures are born from an affection for small-scale storytelling; her textile work balances meticulous construction with playful surprises—a crooked smile, mismatched eyes, or a pocketed secret.

A self taught artist, Melanie exhibits in small galleries and curated markets and on occasion accepts commissions for custom heirlooms.

Melanie lives and works in Winnipeg, Canada, where she collects odd buttons, beautiful fabrics, and stories from flea markets & family attics. When she’s not in the studio, she’s likely sketching ideas over coffee, wondering antique shops, or paging through her vintage book collection.