Growing up in the populated suburbs of New England, Melissa DiNino's imagination would drift through the two-acre forest outside her bedroom window. She found her best friends in a pack of German Shepherds, took horseback riding lessons at a family friend's farm, and explored the arts in a home decorated with her mother's watercolor paintings. As a long-legged child, she excelled in basketball from a young age and was encouraged to set aside other interests to prioritize developing her skills. Even so, her most formative memories were off the basketball court and far from city limits at her great-grandparents' log cabin on Sebago Lake in Maine, where she spent time each summer amongst the spring peepers and ruby-throated hummingbirds.

When it came time to attend college, Melissa received a merit-based scholarship to pursue her bachelor's degree in biology in Connecticut, as well as a spot on the basketball team as the starting center. It was during these years that she also began working for an environmental education nonprofit dedicated to the conservation of wolves, putting her within reach of the top carnivore biologists and giving her a view into the deep-rooted conflict with wolves around the world. Realizing a life working alongside wolves was attainable, even for someone miles away from a wild wolf population, Melissa ended her collegiate basketball career to dedicate her life's work to human-wildlife conflict prevention.

Immediately after completing her bachelors with a minor in conflict resolution, Melissa moved to the heart of wolf country in Montana to work as a range rider. For this, she lived in ranching communities across the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, alongside her Australian Shepherd, June, tracking wolves and grizzlies by horseback and implementing a variety of management practices to prevent livestock losses to predators. In the off-season, she supplemented her work as an apprentice horse trainer, wolf biologist in Yellowstone, and a dogsledding guide in the mountains surrounding the park.

However, in the fall of 2017, a traumatic close-call between Melissa's fellow range rider and a grizzly bear revealed cracks within the foundation of her community's work, forcing pause and reflection for all involved. Right when she had settled into the cadence of her days, her career in human-wildlife conflict largely dissolved. Turning to art as a way to process, she taught herself to paint with watercolors and an influx of commission opportunities followed, shifting the trajectory of her life in ways she didn't see coming.

It was at this point, after a long and winding journey, that she decided to pursue a career as an artist.

As a watercolor painter, Melissa's values are rooted in her experiences, which continually challenge her perspectives and shape her growth -- first, as someone who works with curiosity to bridge understanding between the human and more-than-human, and more recently, turning that lens inward in an effort to create harmony between herself and a horse whom she rescued from a kill pen in Texas. For her, a painting is a door for connection between herself, her subject matter, and the viewers, and while the narratives Melissa explores are often deeply personal and sometimes difficult, she visually articulates it in a way that reflects a beautiful, shared truth.

This approach to her work has not gone unnoticed. "Despite her lack of formal experience, DiNino’s technique is masterful — reminiscent of works by storied American artist Andrew Wyeth, while remaining wholly unique. As is often said of Wyeth’s works, DiNino’s paintings catch you off guard, drawing you in with their magnetism," describes Halina Loft, contributor for Big Sky Journal. Within the first two years of painting, Melissa completed a large-scale private commission consisting of thirty-eight paintings, was named Southwest Art Magazine’s “21 under 31: young artists to watch,” and was approached by galleries with whom she continues to collaborate. Her works are now in the private collections of celebrities, equestrians, and art lovers across the world.

After a decade of living and working on ranches in Montana, Melissa and her husband moved to the south shore of Lake Superior in Wisconsin, a landscape reminiscent of her childhood on Sebago Lake, in order to create a home, a farm, and a place to gather and learn alongside her animals and the wildlife of the Northwoods. It is from this place where she will continue to deepen her exploration into the silent mediums of connection and pursue a life lived in communion with the natural world.