Marty McConnell is an artist and mother who named her professional moniker, Dysythmic Bliss, after the mental illness Dysthymia--an affliction with which she was diagnosed at age 23. Now 46, Marty has made peace with her demons and recognizes the critical role art played in keeping her going throughout her life.
Marty takes most of her inspiration from the horror genre; she had one grandmother raise her on classic Universal Studios monsters and Vincent Price, and the other on Steven King--and later in life she discovered Poe, Lovecraft, and other Gothic horror classics, along with film director and artist Guillermo Del Toro. She likes things dark; Marty prefers the dark instead of fearing it, and finds comfort in the macabre.
This is reflected in her work, and as Marty put it "Even when I try and do something not so dark, it winds up dark anyway. So why fight it?"
Why indeed?
MELISSA MCCONNELL (Minneapolis, MN)
Professional Affiliation: Dysythmic Bliss
Education: I always loved art in school, but in college I really only took a couple of art classes. One of them was in charcoal and then another course that we just kind of did whatever since there were only about 6 of us. I also took a year of one-on-one classes for Costume Design and sketched ideas for that. Otherwise it’s just something I’ve always kind of done. I grew up in a very crafty family. Not a lot of money, so a lot of figuring out how to make/paint/create it ourselves.
Medium & style: I guess it would fall under Mixed Media Collage technically. To me, it’s “What is calling to me and what can I do with it?” I started with redoing boxes and things I’d find in Thrift Stores and I still do a lot of these to sell. I had a canvas I’d found at a thrift and decided to play with it and it stuck. I like to mix everything, whatever seems to fit with what’s in my head. I use a lot of paper. Scrapbook paper, stuff I’ve printed out, art papers, stuff I just find and rescue from something else. Broken jewelry, bits of trim and fabric, pieces of something else - it’s all fair game for me.
Professional Memberships: Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association (NEMAA)
Exhibition Record: Crypticon (MPLS), Gods and Monsters (MPLS), Betty Danger’s Country Club Bizarre Bazaar, Beauty in Every BODY, Art A Whirl, St. Paul Art Crawl
