melissa m button

i am Program Director for Art Studies and a Teaching Professor in Painting/Drawing where i have been serving students at ASU since 1998.  In addition to educating and guiding students in their art practice, my goal is to align values and intention by structuring the classroom environment in a manner that bridges what students learn to what they encounter in their lives personally and professionally.  

i also serve as Assistant Dean in the Herberger Institute for Design and Arts where my attention is toward building frameworks of mentorship for career track faculty.  This effort extends to support and grow student retention and success, and includes providing student-centered oversight of their pedagogy and professional development.

My art practice includes painting, drawing, printmaking, and mixed media collages — creating works that explore my interest in space and constructed realities, by examining ordered and chaotic patterns in life and how these patterns merge so that the boundaries between the two no longer have any distinctions.  Through manipulations in scale, transparencies, and disappearing edges, the layers continually form and deteriorate, and patterns within emerge and reveal the indeterminate nature of all things.

My work has been exhibited nationally and internationally throughout the US, China, and Europe. As an artist and scholar, i am dedicated to innovative pedagogy and inclusive teaching practices — which has led to several invitations to speak at FATE (Foundations in Art: Theory & Education) and TTD (Thinking Through Drawing Symposium) in London, UK, and being published in Let’s Talk About Critique: Reimagining Art and Design Education. i received my B.S. in Architecture and MFA in Painting/Drawing from Arizona State University.