The Girl, the Horse and the Highlands. A series of prints, paintings and watercolours based on dreams of riding through the highlands.
Michelle was born in San Francisco but lived in Hawaii and mainland Europe before settling in Iceland, where she now dedicates herself to her art full-time.
She has exhibited her work at Galerie Cècile Charron in Paris, InGenio Arte Contemporanea in Turin and the Galleria d'Arte III Millennio in Venice, the Knoerle Baettig Fine Art gallery in Winterthur, Galerie Villa Mainau in Zurich, the Zurcher Kantonal Bank and AXA in Winterthur.
She studied fine art in the United States and the Netherlands and has exhibited widely across Europe and in the United States, as well as giving lectures and practising artistry.
In the Netherlands, she studied under the painter Anton Martineau and attended the Rietveld Academy. In India, she learnt to create bronze sculptures at the Honey Arts Modeling Center. She received five grants from the SSV Arts Fund, the Westland Development Fund, and grants from the Borgarbyggð Cultural Fund and the Karolina Fund.
Other exhibition venues include the Baer Art Center and SIM, the Association of Icelandic Visual Artists. Her work can be found in private collections in Switzerland, Der Landbote and SEC Communications.
Michelle has worked on projects and taught for organisations such as: List Fyrir Alla, Djúpavogshreppur, Creatrix, Menntaskólinn í Borgarnesi, Listaskóli Borgarnes and Ungmennasamband Borgarfjarðar. One of her paintings has been selected to be among the many artworks sent to the moon as part of the Lunar Codex project.
Abroad, Michelle has held art workshops for people with special needs for Cíttá di Torino. The Swiss Cantonal School in Zurich has invited Michelle to hold over ten exhibitions for its A Wie Atelier programme. She has also been commissioned to run art workshops for corporate groups from Google Zurich, the GIS-Zentrum Baudirektion Kanton Zurich, and the Integrative Psychiatric Clinic in Winterthur.
In Iceland, she founded Art House Borgarnes, a website showcasing collaborative projects in social art. She was the organiser of the Borgarnes Film Freaks events and a co-producer of the documentary film Pourquoi Pas Borgarnes. Both projects received grants.
In Switzerland, she founded and organised the art events: Open Doors and Outside Inside. For six consecutive years, she published the annual art magazine MAP Magazine Artist Professionals in Winterthur. Her paintings and drawings were published in The Café Review – Maine's Poetry Journal and the Dutch & Belgian magazine Joie de Vivre.
The exhibition opening will be on 25th April from 18:00-20:00 and everyone is welcome!
Other opening times:
Friday 26 April 13:00 – 18:00
Saturday 27th April 12:00 – 17:00
Sunday 28 April 14:00 – 17:00
The event is sponsored by the Culture and Tourism Committee of the City of Hafnarfjörður.
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The Girl, The Horse and the Highlands. A series of prints, paintings and watercolours based on dreams of riding in the Highlands.
I have exhibited my artwork locally and internationally in curated exhibitions and grassroots events for more than 50 shows. I am dedicated to my craft and have a strong creative work ethic. My days begin with a routine of painting for at least 4–7 hours. I strive to create art that resonates with and transforms its viewers.
I continue to grow, learn and teach. I am a visual artist and specialise in painting; my mediums range from oil to ink. Since 2014, I have been living and working from my art studio in Borgarnes. Although painting is my main form of expression, I occasionally sculpt with clay. In 1999, I began to study art in India, where I first learned the lost-wax bronze casting method in an apprenticeship with the Lal family in Chamba. In 2002 in Amsterdam, my calling as a painter began when I learned Rembrandt's method and Renaissance glazing techniques at the art studio of Hans van Vlaerken. Afterwards, I completed the introductory year at the Rietveld Academy, where my path as a painter crystallised and I sought out a three-year apprenticeship with the poet and painter Anton Martineau. Since then, I have worked for the past 20 years from my own art studios in Holland, Switzerland, Belgium and finally here in Iceland.
I created art events in Winterthur, „the Open Doors Event“ and „MAP Magazine“, and established www.arthouseborgarnes.com in Borgarnes to integrate art and the community. In the past decade I have undertaken artist residencies at Baer Art Center, SIM, Gilfélagið and Akureyri Art Museum. I have received 6 Innovation & Development Grants from Uppbyggingarsjóður Vesturlands, won 3rd prize for the Women's Innovation Project awarded at Háskóli Íslands AWE Accelerator, and my art was selected for the Lunar Codex Time Capsule to the moon. I taught digital art and other art courses at the Menntaskolinn in Borgarnes. During Covid, I was hired to create art educational videos for List Fyrir Alla.
The exhibition opening is on the 25th of April from 18:00-20:00 and everyone is welcome!
Other opening hours:
Friday 26th April 13:00 – 18:00
Saturday 27th April 12:00 – 17:00
Sunday 28th April 14:00 – 17:00
The event is sponsored by the Culture and Tourism Committee of Hafnarfjörður.