Tulsa Artist's Show And Sale Devoted To Haiti Relief

By Rick Wells, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- This is the rainy season in Haiti, and thousands of earthquake victims are in need of shelter. A Tulsa artist would like to help.

Melissa Key is a painter and photographer. She shares a studio with her husband in Bixby.

"It was devastating; you know I just want to help as much as I can," said artist Melissa Key.

For weeks she's been creating paintings for a special show and sale to benefit earthquake victims in Haiti. She feels a certain empathy with victims in Haiti. She lost everything she had in Hurricane Katrina five years ago.

"I just stood on my back porch during the day and I painted and I painted and I painted," Key said.

It was like therapy as she poured her feeling out on the canvas. That exercise in many ways got her through the aftermath of the hurricane.

"All my paintings have a little cross in them, because I feel like they need restoration, too, just like I did after that storm," she said.

The paintings are being hung at Miss Jackson's in Utica Square. The sale is Friday, and half the proceeds go to Haitian relief.

Her own experiences have perhaps given her artistic work new purpose and new meaning.....

"It's layers, and layers, and layers for me," Key said.

A lot like life - lots of layers. Put a little on take a little off; let the bright colors show through.

"God has blessed our life, and I feel we're just going to have fun and make the best of it, and try to help people," said Tulsa artist Melissa Key, whose art show and sale will raise money for Haiti earthquake victims.

It's not about us. It's about helping people doing the right thing and making the right decisions," she said. 

The sale is Friday at Miss Jackson's from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Find out more about Melissa Key on her web site.