
Multi-discipline artist and designer, Michaelle has focused on the ancient
technique of encaustic (beeswax painting) since 2010. Living between the ski
mountains of Park City, Utah, the Caribbean, and her sailboat in Southern
California, her works are informed by her love of nature and adventure travel.
Drawing on memories of exploring the wilderness and sea, she constructs
layers of molten beeswax, typically 12-20 in each painting. Each layer is an
opportunity to add depth with pigment, mark making, vintage papers,
photography, or hand made rusted silk. Light reflects through the translucent
layers like blurred memories, obscuring and revealing at the same time. Using
scraps of steel collected from random places, she arranges them on silk soaked
in salt water to create mysterious patterns of rust and erosion, reminiscent of
the red sandstone of the Southwest. The power of water is a prevalent theme in
her work. “Each painting fills me with wonder and awe. The process of fire and
wax is unpredictable as nature itself, building and excavating, fusing and
scraping, discovering newness with each decision. My paintings are essentially
extended vacations in which the viewer is invited to come along and create
their own visual journey.”