Michelle went to Columbus College of Art and Design (CCAD) and earned my BFA in Fine Arts with a focus in ceramics. She also attended Baldwin-Wallace College for a Teaching License to teach K-12 Art. For the past five years Michelle has been subbing for the Berea City Schools.
Her work consists of ceramic leaves. Michelle has been working with clay for the past nine years. Michelle started doing the leaves as her Senior Thiess show at CCAD.
She transformed the gallery space into a forest in the middle of February. Each leaf represents the many aspects of what is found in nature – from the minerals of the earth to the bountiful colors nature is drenched in. Michelle works with clay, which comes from the earth, and turn it back into a creation that represents the leaves of the trees found in nature. Each leaf is formed into a bowl, a platter, or an individual leaf. Michelle likes to capture the essence of a leaf as well. Each leaf that is created has the same light airy feel as a real leaf does. Michelle does this by keeping the clay thin. Each glaze that is use represents the last phase of the leaf, which finds red-orange-yellow-brown, which is open to the autumn’s falling sun, or the warmth of autumn in a single, turning of a leaf.
Along with the ceramic leafs, Michelle has started to work with Precious Metal Clay (PMC). PMC consists of very small particles of metals mixed with an organic binder and water. During firing the clay particles burn off and what is left is 0.999% Fine Silver. Michelle makes leaf pendants and earrings in the same way that she makes her ceramics, by using a real leaf to get the impression. She also creates other impression pieces in geometric shapes with glass beads and stones.
Michelle is currently working out of her Parma, Ohio home studio. Michelle’s work can currently be seen in seven Art Galleries in the Cleveland and Columbus Ohio areas. Along with be seen at area Art Shows and Festivals. Michelle is currently President of the Berea Fine Arts Club, a member of the Ohio Art’s Council.