Art from the Archives

Melvin Hale emerged from a technical career in telecommunications engineering and database development to become an award-winning digital artist.  In 2007, Melvin entered three of his earliest works in the fine art competition at the California State Fair in Sacramento.  Melvin was the only artist in any medium to receive the maximum of three awards in the competition, including the Award of Excellence for “Chi Chi and Cubana,” a depiction of Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs in the mid-1940s.

Melvin characterizes his work as Digital Realism, and performs extensive research on the location and historical context of the images he uses.  His favorite subjects originated as black & white photo postcards from the early to mid-twentieth century.

He completed his doctorate in Information Studies at UCLA in 2014 after earning his Masters in Library and Information Science in 2012.  His dissertation on visual literacy is entitled:  Toward a Unified Theory of Visual Knowledge in Library, Archives and Information Studies: A Test of the KBI Model Using Documentary Photographs.  (An interesting side note: Kim Cooper’s article on The Tamale made its way into his dissertation before he realized that it was written by Kim).

Melvin is a native of Southern California, hailling from the Inland Empire

The sub-title for his website, ArtistLA.com, is Black & White Photos to Incomparable Color.