Fancy & Unfiltered
The Dynamic Dimensions of YVW’s Creative Director
It was the 2025 Montana State University Bobcats home opener — the Gold Rush Game — and Bobcat Stadium was buzzing. A sell-out crowd of 22,000 set the tone early, the fans’ cheers rolling through the stands in waves. Nearly every seat brought a pop of yellow, as fans donned their Gold Rush T-shirts, flooding the stadium with an unmistakable sea of Bobcat pride.
Somewhere in that sea stood freelance graphic designer Melanie Fabrizius. The previous spring, she had entered the Gold Rush T-shirt Design Contest. Her artwork ended up capturing the vote of fans statewide and landed her design on thousands of shirts. Named the 2025 Gold Rush Winner, Melanie earned more than bragging rights; she was invited onto the field before kickoff as a special guest. As she stepped onto the turf, the roar of the crowd washed over her.
“Oh my gosh,” she says, reflecting back. “To see thousands of people wearing gold T-shirts with my design on it. I can’t even begin to describe the feeling. As an artist, it doesn’t get any better than that!”
Friends describe Melanie as free-spirited, loyal, colorful, bold, caring, unpredictable and often unfiltered. She’s eccentric and loves art, fashion, shopping, rockhounding, 4-wheeling and her two dogs, Pistol Annie and Comanche Sue. She’s a country girl at heart, known for her uncontrollable laughter. And at 5’11” — and often wearing her own clothing designs — she makes a statement when she enters a room. She’s also the face behind the design and layout of Yellowstone Valley Woman Magazine.
Melanie was already designing ads for YVW as well as fashioning the layout for the quarterly magazine, Raised in the West, when she jumped at the opportunity to be the magazine’s creative director back in 2019.
“It’s been an incredible thing for me and I’m excited to be part of such a great magazine," Melanie says.
Born and raised on her family’s sugar beet farm near Belfry, Melanie was inspired artistically as a child by the western lifestyle. She doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t drawing.
“Mom gave me paper and supplies at a very young age. I was so young even the walls were my canvas,” she laughs.
She remembers her mother drawing and doodling and she credits her mom for her artistic genes.
“Mom was a great artist,” she says. “Unfortunately, she was so busy working on the farm that she didn’t have time to really pursue it. She also loved fashion, which became something we shared.”
It wasn’t long before Melanie’s two sisters and her parents became her subjects. Even the farm animals and wildlife spurred her creativity. It was a creativity she also expressed by pushing the envelope with her fashion sense.
“I remember wearing a sweet little pink dress to school one day, and pairing it with a spike bracelet,” she laughs. “And that was just one of my outfits!”
By high school, Melanie became the artistic “go-to.” If someone needed an event poster, Melanie was their pick. To this day, she remembers painting the mascots of all of Belfry High School’s opposing teams on the walls of the high school gym.
It’s no wonder she found a way to channel that talent. After earning a graphic design degree from Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, she landed a job at the Billings Gazette, diving into ad layout and production. Working within the structure of a large corporation didn’t fully satisfy her creative instincts and she was almost thankful when the Gazette decided to outsource their design work overseas. What could have felt like a setback became an unexpected opening.
“It was one of those things that was devastating at first, but ultimately one of the best things that could have happened to me,” Melanie says. “It made me really think about what I wanted to do with my life and if I could make a living as a freelance graphic artist.”
After several years of independent design work for multiple companies, her creative path led her to new opportunities, including the one here at Yellowstone Valley Woman Magazine.
Serving as the magazine’s creative director gives her days just enough structure to leave room for the other projects she loves. Among her favorites are the opportunities to bring her nontraditional Western flair to the front of promotional rodeo posters.
She designed her first in 2019 for the Home of Champions Rodeo in Red Lodge.
“Mel nailed it the first time,” says Shari DeSaveur, the rodeo’s marketing director. “She understood our vision and created a beautiful layout.”
Melanie has designed the poster every year since, along with the rodeo’s tickets and larger-than-life billboards.
But it was a poster for a 3-day rodeo in Bosler, Wyoming, which led to dozens more rodeo design jobs. She even crafted a poster for the University of Wyoming’s tribute to Steamboat, the bucking horse whose silhouette has become iconic in the Cowboy State.
If you look deeply into one of her designs, you’ll see each bold tribute features layer upon layer of imagery and symbolic design elements which tell a deeper story. Tucked into every composition is her signature Indian Paintbrush, a subtle but unmistakable mark of her hand. Since each piece demands 40 to 50 hours of meticulous work, it’s clearly a labor of love.
“You can tell by the detail that Mel puts time and effort into every poster,” Shari says. “It’s not just a project. It’s something she loves doing. She has so many things hidden in the background that she makes a key to find them. They are a work of art and collector’s item.”
It was that very style that caught the attention of those with Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum. Plans were already ramping up for a 2024 event aimed at honoring PRCA World Champion bull rider Lane Frost. Lane was tragically killed by the bull “Taking Care of Business” after completing a successful 85-point ride at the Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1989. The museum wanted to remember the 35th anniversary of his death and play host to a special screening of the documentary, “LANE: Life/Legend/Legacy.”
Shirley Holmes Churchill, a volunteer for the museum, had seen one of Melanie’s posters for the Chugwater Rodeo hanging on the wall at the Chugwater Soda Fountain.
“I was drawn to it,” Shirley says. “It was so colorful and eye-catching. The artist had done such an amazing job of incorporating so much of Wyoming into the background.” She knew Melanie would be the perfect artist to commemorate Lane Frost.
“That was such an honor for me,” Melanie says. “Growing up in a small town, we all knew the legend of Lane Frost. Being selected to design the poster and attend the event was incredible.”
It was a star-studded red-carpet event, with Melanie in the middle of it all. Moses Brings Plenty, one of the stars of the hit TV show “Yellowstone” walked the red carpet, as did members of Lane Frost’s family.
Just last fall, Melanie put the finishing touches on a poster celebrating the 75th anniversary of the World Famous Miles City Bucking Horse Sale. Created, signed and numbered by Melanie, the limited-edition piece will be sold in honor of the milestone event. Measuring 18 by 36 inches, the richly detailed poster is a visual powerhouse, built from an intricate 52-layer design file with more than 40 photographs seamlessly woven into the background.
“I’m pretty proud of it,” she smiles. “It took me over 60 hours to complete.”
As YVW celebrates its 25th anniversary, Melanie is one of only three creative directors who have, over the years, influenced the look and the face of the magazine.
“I am continually amazed by the women that are featured in YVW,” she says. “Every one of them is so remarkable in their own way and it’s exciting to be part of that. I strive to showcase them the best that I can.”
For the past seven years, she’s redesigned the magazine from top to bottom with the creative use of typography and pops of intense color.
“I love color,” she says. “In fact, my favorites are turquoise, hot pink, sunset and cheetah print. And yes, sunset and cheetah print are colors!”
While each issue bears a piece of her, she was deeply moved when YVW decided to take a deep dive into the topic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in its March 2020 issue.
“That was one of the hardest issues I have designed,” Melanie says. “Selena Not Afraid’s story ended so tragically. It still haunts me.”
The 16-year-old was reported missing in January of that year and 20 days after her disappearance, her body was found. The story sparked national attention and brought to light the number of women, just like Selena, who were still missing. The issue was titled “Say Their Names.”
Part of that issue’s layout shared the photos of some of the missing women.
“That layout was so difficult because those women’s faces were just haunting me. I couldn’t get the images out of my head,” Melanie says. “The pandemic came and still those stories kept nagging at me. I decided, just as an outlet, to start drawing them.” She started with the images of 42 women, each one symbolic of a missing indigenous woman. The collection was titled “Not Forgotten.” To date, that collection has grown to 156.
At the end of the day, Melanie says she doesn’t have tremendous wealth to share, but she hopes to spark change instead with her creativity.
“It’s something that’s always in the back of my mind. I want my art to make a difference with people,” she says, adding that she envisions partnerships in the future to use her work to spark change. She’d love to raise awareness for the MMIW cause or even help support fundraising for animal welfare or rescue operations. Growing up, her mom was known for taking in and fostering strays. Watching her mom made an impact.
“Hopefully,” Melanie says, “there’s a way I can use my art to give back.”
