Born in Oakland, California, Melivina Jane Cames is the daughter of Robert Alexander and Jessie (Rose) Cochran. After marrying Louis C. Cames, a railroad man, in 1925, she settled in Laramie, Wyoming. During the 1930's, Vina worked for both the Federal Relief Administration and WPA programs. From 1937-38, she also studied at the University of Wyoming and became a member of the Wyoming Artists Association. After the university, Vina went on to attend the Broadmoor Academy (Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center) under H. V. Poor, Frank Mechau, Lawrence Barrett and Boardman Robinson in the late thirties and early forties. Not long after her divorce, she returned to California and settled in San Francisco, where she was employed for many years as an artist for the National Lead Paint Company.

Cames' most noted artistic talents include painting and also lithography. Her work ranges in genre from still lifes, figure studies, portraits, and landscapes. Most significant among her landscapes are scenic views of Wyoming, some of which gained great attention. They include Grain Field; West of Laramie; and Rampart Range. Later in her career, after focusing on ceramics for a long period, she returned to serious painting and produced pastels of the California landscape.

Exhibited: Second National Exhibit of American Art, New York; Corcoran Gallery of Art; Washinton DC; Artists Guild of America, Carmel, CA; Artists West of the Mississippi, Colorado Spring; 44th Annual Denver Art Museum, 1938; Chappel House, 1938 (solo); New York's World's Fair, 1939.

Works Held: University of Wyoming; Denver Art Museum; IBM Denver

Further Reading: Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Vol. 1. Peter Hastings Falk, Georgia Kuchen and Veronica Roessler, eds.,Sound View Press, Madison, Connecticut, 1999. 3 Vols.; An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West, Phil Kovinick, Marian Yoshiki-Kovinick, 3rd edition., Univerisity of Texas Press, Austin, TX: 1999.

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