Michelle is a practicing Architect and Artist, working across the Built Environment in Architecture, Interiors and the Arts. After an extensive career over several decades including a career in the Qld Government specialising in public architecture, Michelle founded M+M Studio and continues her creativity by developing opportunities for her practice, an independent studio specialising in Art, Architecture and Design.
Artist Statement
My artwork is about what I see, feel and experience and engages with the built and natural environment. Connection to experiences and emotions directs me and a reference to abstract expressionism informs my way of working quickly to capture a sense of place and time. I have been guided in my making by a life time immersed in colour, light, shape and form.
The relationship with architecture and design has spring boarded to this abstraction of place, representing the tension between viewer and experiencer, spectacle and environment, and the images represent how we interact with our environment.
The long tidal zone expanses of Peregian Beach reveal an ever changing topography and are mirrored in the emotionally charged coastal abstract series. Blue hues, dream-like and surreal, suggest notions of calmness and serenity, beguiling the viewer from the increasing storm season ‘events’ and consequent beach destruction.
Focusing on the visual qualities of the shoreline and the living oceans, saturated vibrant colours and purposive brushwork create compelling visual impressions. Impressions that move the viewer to respect the environment and its precious natural resources and promote an understanding of the challenges of climate change.