Artist Statement

Art is my voice, a way to share the beautiful little details I notice hiding in plain sight. I communicate through mixed media using paint, photography and collage. My art is about expressing feelings, telling stories and sharing beauty.

Words and feelings are my wellsprings of inspiration. Through color, symbolism, and texture I weave stories together. I seek unity within myself and my work by combining the left-brained care and cleanliness of digital photography with the right-brained serendipity and messiness of painting.

I am moved by the breath of ocean waves, the impermanence of flowers, the grand cosmos, grounded mountains, comforting trees, lucid dreams, music that stirs the soul, and stories of triumph and wisdom.

Bio

Michelle is a Florida based artist working in paint and photography. She earned a B.S in Psychology at the University of Florida in 2010, but always felt pulled towards the arts. After graduating she began exploring some creative outlets while working as an administrative and research associate for in Psychology.

Oil paints captured her interest at first, but photography led her down a path to doing art full-time. In 2016 she was eager to bring collage and paint into the mix and began taking workshops with different instructors to hone her skills. Her mentor Lauren Mantecón has had the greatest impact on Michelle discovering her authentic voice in painting.

In 2014 she applied to her first outdoor art festival to showcase her photography. Since then she has shown her work at numerous art festivals, and local and national exhibits, and has received several awards. Most notably she was invited to be the Santa Fe College (Gainesville, FL) 50th Annual Spring Arts Festival poster artist in 2018 with her limited edition digital photo collage entitled Into the Garden of Dreamers.