Melissa Manley has worked in whatever medium was available since childhood. Her recent endeavors include completing her Masters of Fine Arts in Metal Design at East Carolina University, studying under nationally recognized enamellist Linda Darty as well as Robert Ebendorf, one of the godfathers of found object jewelry in the United States. Melissa specializes in jewelry and small vessels in silver, copper and enamel and sometimes incorporating natural objects gleaned from her kayak adventures in the waters around her coastal home. Melissa has taught workshops in collage, watercolor, book altering and jewelry classes at art retreats for the past nine years. She currently teaches metalsmithing at Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, NC. Her work has appeared in Somerset Studio magazine, Crafting Personal Shrines by Carol Owen and The Fine Art of Enameling by Linda Darty, Making Connections by Susan Lenart Kazmer and 500 Enameled Objects by Lark Books. Look for her book Jewelry Lab by Quarry Press coming in 2011.