MELISSA SKYER
Guadalupe, Melissa Skyer, Mosaic, 22 x 30 in, 2020
My daughter, Melissa Skyer created the Guadalupe mosaic. It took her two years to complete this project before she passed away from aggressive brain tumors. She often prayed to Guadalupe hoping for a cure which sadly did not happen.
On the back of her mosaic Melissa wrote: “And from the infinite darkness you came...” I interpret that to mean Guadalupe came to take Melissa home to be with her dad and paternal aunts.
Melissa Skyer (1982-2022) was a consummate environmentalist, glass mosaic artist, and writer of poetry and creative nonfiction. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree (Biology, Psychology, 2004), and a Master of Environmental Science degree (2006). Both degrees were from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Her graduate thesis documented the lives of river otters from the western Genesee River basin (including wetlands, watersheds, and Black and Oatka Creeks). Melissa was a board member of the Genesee River Watch. She was affiliated with the Association for Late Deafened Adults (ALDA), and was a science faculty member at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), one of the nine colleges of RIT.