Through distilling the nebulous into the tangible and concrete, I try to render fleeting moments as permanent and substantial.
Attracted to states of contrast and contradiction, I'm interested in how at the point of any extreme things tend to revert to their opposite. Lightness becomes heavy, opacity becomes transparent, the internal becomes external, and the fragile becomes strong. Glass as a medium embodies these paradoxes. The material's intrinsic tensions naturally lend themselves to these aesthetic and conceptual concerns. Contradictions and ambiguity interest me, for this is where poetry can be found.
Change is accelerated these days and a collective sense of natural history and unity has fragmented. Our ability to remember and reflect has become permanently altered through the artificial lens of technology. In this climate I feel a sense of urgency to preserve some memory of natural and cultural history before it slips forever out of the collective consciousness.
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Michelle has traveled extensively, lived abroad, and all over North America. With a BA in English from Dalhousie University and a BFA from Concordia University in Montreal, she went on to study glass at the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Tennessee. She was a glass resident at Harbourfront Centre (Toronto) and the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga and has attended artist residencies and workshops that include Pilchuck, Penland, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and the Vermont Studio Centre. Weaving in subtle narrative, her work explores glass and a variety of materials. She has exhibited internationally and completed numerous private and corporate commissions. With an MFA in Glass from Ohio State University, she has taught in the Craft and Design, Art Fundamentals, and Visual and Creative Arts programs at Sheridan College, as well as at Haliburton School of the Arts and the School of Art and Design at Georgian College. Michelle lives in eastern Ontario, where she maintains her studio practice.