Conception, Creative Direction, Design
In 2011, Melissa founded Seymour Projects to help individuals disconnect from technology and reconnect with themselves. For the past 15 years, she has led the conception, design and production of the collective’s tech-free, creatively therapeutic spaces, objects & experiences.
Her largest, most renowned project to date SEYMOUR+ | A Spa For The Mind, was located in Paris, France from 2014 to 2017. Created ahead of what would later emerge as a broader movement, it offered five contemplative environments designed to support introspection, reflection, emotional processing and free play. A brief overview of the space can be accessed here and its original public-facing description can be found here.
A modular, next-generation version of that original space is currently being developed in collaboration with designer Corey Stevens, architect Michael Etzel and Dr. Stephen Porges, PhD.
Via Seymour Projects, Melissa also led the conception of a number of additional site specific contemplative projects and co-crafted various related objects. As an extension of this work she produced Seymour Magazine, talks, videos, and limited edition books.
Visual Art
As an Intuitive Artist, Melissa’s visual art studies consciousness through material experimentation across painting, sculpture, textiles, photography and assemblage. This life-long experiential inquiry, has in recent years, evolved into a structured artistic practice in which she documents her shifting inner landscape and explores non-ordinary perceptual states.
From 2019-2022 she maintained a daily ritual of making a watercolor each morning, resulting in over 1,000 works on paper. These are available to view in her archive.
In 2026, embracing her spiritual name, she established MORAH. Through this project she expands her practice to explore the intersection of gender, spiritual autonomy, and the cultural construction of value. MORAH also functions as an online space presenting a curated selection of her works available for acquisition.
Throughout her career, Melissa has also participated in numerous collaborations and her visual art has been featured on a variety of goods, including the cover of the pop/rock band Nada Surf’s album Never Not Together and companion EP Cycle Through.
Written Works
As an author, her written work spans fiction, essay and memoir, often serving as a parallel space of philosophical inquiry and experimentation alongside her visual and spatial practice.
Her novel GAG, an exploration of identity, perception and transformation, was published by Roundfire Books in 2014. Reviews are available here.
In 2021, Melissa authored and self-published Hic et Nunc a handbook offering guidance on how to shape a daily creative practice that supports introspection, reflection and play.
Melissa recently completed 50 Waves, a personal journey of reclamation told in mytho-poetic form. The book includes an afterword by chaplain & feminist bible scholar Elizabeth Berne DeGear, PhD. The manuscript is complete. She is currently exploring how best to share the work.
Earlier fiction includes: Acoustic Set, a collection of fictional coming-of-age tales written in 2008, selected excerpts were published in the literary journals Entasis and Belleville Park Pages. To access a free download of the collection, click here.
Additional personal essays and articles can be found in various online magazines and blogs.
Advisory, Workshops, Mentorship
Melissa’s advisory supports CEOs, CBOs, creatives and social entrepreneurs in developing conscious projects, products and services that enhance public wellbeing, with an emphasis on embodied leadership and intentional design.
Melissa occasionally offers private workshops (one on one) & public workshops (groups) focused on supporting creative and contemplative practice. She also mentors emerging artists & young professionals.
Areas of Research
Melissa engages in self-directed, practice-based research rooted in interdisciplinary study and lived experience which is then synthesized and expressed through her art. Areas of research include: metaphysics, theology, psychology and sociocultural anthropology, with an emphasis on therapeutic practices, visionary experience, and the dissolution of structure during threshold states. Jungian Principles and Transpersonal Psychology have also deeply informed her practice.
Her most recent research focus is on religious and vernacular architecture with particular attention to sacred space, symbolic structures, and their role in shaping collective and individual consciousness. She is also exploring the Divine Feminine and new offline models for social cohesion.
Groups & Communities
Melissa is a proponent of the Intentional Spaces Initiative and International Arts + Mind Lab Center for Applied Neuroaesthetics at Johns Hopkins University.
Her current spiritual education is actively enriched by teachings and conversations with Imam Khalil Abdullah, Assistant Dean for Muslim Life at Princeton University. She also participates in Oxford University scholar Tamás Dávid Barrett’s evolutionary behavioral science discussion group Human Beast & poet Jan Noble’s existential conversation club Angeli D’Inferno.
Melissa has led sessions and moderated talks at numerous professional gatherings. She is a member of the Kinnernet and DLD communities and a supporter of the National Museum of Women in the Arts & New York Peace Institute.
Beyond the Studio
Surf, skateboard, and punk culture have been steady influences, informing both her personal ethos and aesthetic. Most at home in nature, she is particularly drawn to the ocean and landscapes that hold mystical meaning. Two of her favorite spiritual havens are Montana’s Mission Valley and the island of Gozo in the Maltese archipelago.