Melinda Littlejohn

Melinda Littlejohn was raised on Quarter Horse ranches in New Mexico and northern Oklahoma.

Surrounded from an early age by the artists and writers who frequented her maternal family's home, the historic Taos Inn, she naturally gravitated toward a career as a fine art painter and sculptor.

Her aunt, Helen Martin, founded the Taos Inn and was among the pioneering women artists of the Southwest. Helen and her husband, Dr. T.P. "Doc" Martin, hosted the inaugural gathering of a group of Taos painters—including Bert Geer Phillips, Eanger Irving Couse, and Joseph Henry Sharp—at their home, giving rise to what became the Taos Society of Artists.

As a child, Melinda sketched and painted alongside many of the accomplished artists who frequented Helen Martin's salon, as well as those associated with her mother, a respected art collector and patron of Taos's five historic museums.

Melinda spent her summers painting and exhibiting Saddlebreds and Quarter Horses on the western show circuit. After attending Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, she studied sculpture in Paris. Her growing interest in animation and film graphics led her to the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where she earned a degree in film and fine arts.

Following graduation, Melinda moved to Malibu, California, where she worked in the animation film industry while raising her family. In 2010, she returned to New Mexico to devote herself full-time to painting in her Taos studio.