Dr Michelle Cox has lived in Melbourne for most of her life and completed her studies at the Sydney College of Arts, while living there in her 30s, obtaining an Honours degree in Visual Arts. She started off as a painter and loves working with colour and pattern, including the mathematical symmetry and spirals which are found in nature. She trained as an Atmospheric Scientist in her 20’s before studying visual art and extends her love of science and the environment into her art practice.
The art videos and sculptural installations by Dr Michelle Cox have a childlike joy and humour, which engages viewers from the young to the young at heart. Her art practice is inspired by the forms and colours of nature and she is has a passion for environmental issues. She is instinctively drawn to some materials, which are historically feminine, such as beadwork and fabric, stitched together with wire of varying gauges. She enjoys working with geometric elements, which shows her love of science and mathematics.
Dr Cox creates mixed-media botanical sculpture woven, stitched and threaded with wire and beads. Her flower sculptures have developed into activated, surreal creatures. These deconstructed sculptures have exposed twists of wire and a transparent mesh core. Michelle’s magnetic art videos are inspired by physics and magnetism, with handcrafted props in Primary Colours.
Dr Cox has had exhibitions at Off the Kerb Gallery (2011) in Fitzroy and Trocadero Artspace in Footscray, showcasing her environmental animations and Female Dialogues (2013) video pieces. Michelle showed her Climate Change Animation in the Melbourne Fringe Festival (2011) and was selected for the Outside Eye Mentorship Program. Over 2022-2023 she was commissioned by Hobson’s Bay City Council to create an outdoor installation for the Dear Agnes Project, inspired by A forest for Australia (Agnes Denes). She produced a large group of botanical sculptures inspired by rare Banksia plants, which were installed with curve stitched circular forms under a tree canopy. Geometry, symmetry and mathematics have always fascinated Michelle and the patterns in the floral forms are highlighted in these sculptures. Each flower in the installation has been created instinctively and uniquely, with a playful flair.