Partners in the Arts: Paul and Melanie Shaw love art, music and each other

It was a rager of a party at Rutgers University in the summer of ’91 when music majors Melanie and Paul Shaw first fell in love. The washer and dryer were commandeered as beer coolers and Melanie’s special mix tape was blasting over the house stereo. One particular song, Beth, stopped Paul in his tracks just as his future wife and eventual band mate crossed his path.

“This is Kiss,” he said. 

“You and I are the only two people in this whole room who know that,” Melanie responded. 

Instantly charmed, Paul invited Melanie to listen to his vinyl copy of Carole King’s Tapestry at his place. Friendship blossomed into romance, and within two years the youngsters were wed.

Now in their 50s, the couple’s shared love for creativity has bounced them across the globe and back, recently settling in Atlanta where they perform in the folk-inflected band Acoustic Station and promote local art through their nonprofit The Art Share Foundation. 

“We have the most amazing marriage, and I believe our marriage is founded on a love of music making,” Melanie explained on a Saturday in January while beaming at her husband in their new house in Scottdale. 

The Shaw home is equal parts art gallery and music hall, with plenty of room for the pair’s hairless felines, Ruth Balder Ginspurr and Pounce Van Zand, to roam. Every wall, window and nook of the space is lined with original works by area creatives such as Catlanta, Lyiness, Matthew Evans and WonderWorks Design. Paul practices drums in an upstairs recording studio, and the couple duet daily in a downstairs rehearsal space — Paul on acoustic guitar and Melanie on theremin. 

Music kept the young Shaw family on the go during Paul’s career as a jazz drummer in the United States Air Force Band, regularly relocating across the country and spending a three-year stint in Germany. Melanie, a classically trained vocalist, would shift her professional focus to academia during the fledgling development of online universities. It was a perfect fit for a military spouse with an ever-shifting residence.  

When the Shaws decided to call Atlanta home in 2024, their first address was a Krog Street apartment directly overlooking the Beltline — a perfect perch for avid people-watchers like themselves. One day Melanie chalked a colorful hopscotch pattern on the path and observed as a diverse array of pedestrians sidestepped their routine to interact with her childlike installation. If this engages community among strangers, the couple wondered, what else was possible? That was the seed for The Art Share Foundation, an initiative to bring more local art into Atlantans’ lives in inventive ways. 

“Once a month we ask an artist to come up with an idea that they would like to bring into the world,” Melanie explained. ‘We pay the artist a $500 stipend, and we cover all materials and we say, ‘What do you want to make?’”

Art Share’s projects have included murals by street artists VAYNE and Evereman, shareable crafting kits, coloring books and even holographic lenticular prints by designer Caleb Madrigal. The sponsored creations are often distributed during Acoustic Station’s live performances or planted in public spaces in secretive “art drops.”

A few months into their enmeshment in Atlanta’s visual art community, Melanie got the bug to start making her own work, with assemblages such as her traffic-satirizing piece The Connector. During a recent group show in Binders’ Limelight Gallery, she sold an original for the first time. 

“She sent me the photo and I thought, ‘There it is. It’s on the wall. Wait a minute … It’s got a red dot next to it!’” Paul remembered. “You’re constantly blowing my mind.”

Admiration flows in both directions, with Melanie in continual awe of Paul’s musical prowess. After retiring from the military at 44, Paul picked up finger style guitar and started covering Bob Dylan before writing tunes that would ultimately lead to forming Acoustic Station. As a member of Atlanta’s wider music community, Paul teaches guitar and cajon at Decatur’s Frank Hamilton School and gigs with groups such as Evan Stepp & The Piners.

“He played drums at the Earl and I felt like, you know … tossing my bra on the stage,” Melanie laughed, fawning after Paul as if the two were college students all over again. 

What’s the secret to keeping a marriage so fresh three decades in? For the Shaws, the answer is simple. 

“Making music is like the ultimate couple’s activity. It’s renewal all the time when you create together,” Melanie extolled. “It’s like genesis.”

::

Dustin Timbrook is a creative generalist working in art, film and music. He volunteers on the board of directors for Avondale Arts Alliance. Timbrook loves spending time with his family, playing with dogs and gardening.