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Michelle O'Michael
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- Houston Tx
- United States
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Michelle O'Michael's Page
Profile Information
- Relationship Status:
- Married
- About Me:
- My artistic aesthetic springs from flat West Texas, a land punctuated with cacti, steel-rig trees and pump jacks that start with the dirt, survive the wind and end in the sky. The desert has a different rhythm than forests or urban environments. My isolated childhood in the desert on a tract of land larger than the isle of Manhattan, coming from a family of musicians and the fact that my paternal grandfather was a coalmine blacksmith inform my creativity. My sculpture continues this vision and the industrial process of iron and steel.
My work balances content, intuition and beauty by pushing my materials and technical expertise. It explores the interaction of mass, structure, space, surface shadow and volume through quality of line in 360 degrees. An early interest in Oriental calligraphy and mark-making places quality of line as important to me as how mass divides space. Though spatial division is an automatic result, the placement of line and form in space are of equal significance. Content is stated by material and form through interaction of planes, shadow and shape. Part of the content is contained in the edge, weight and tensile strength of steel.
Creating monumental sculptures in steel requires an engineering background, structural and mathematical knowledge in addition to artistic design. My background on my father’s desert land and my rebuilding Volkswagen engines enabled me to acquire the necessary vision and skills to make sculptures. In addition to cameras, computers, canvas, paper and paints, my studio includes industrial equipment for cutting, welding and shaping steel as well as a bridge-crane for heavy lifting. The process of industrial fabrication is an integral part of my creativity. I am as comfortable with a torch and welding machine as with paintbrushes. The multiplicity of skills and processes involved in expertly crafting small to monumental sculptures is part of my analysis and appreciation of steel as a material.
I create to contribute to my viewers’ quality of life through a sense of strength, beauty and sensuous enjoyment. My intent for the viewer is to provoke visual excitement through materials that encourage contemplation and expansive meaning in pleasing sculptural forms.
- Website:
- http://www.omichael.com
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