About Us

Michaela grew up in Brainerd, Minnesota and currently lives and works in Portland, Oregon.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is born from the mind wanderings surrounding events both experienced and
borrowed. Occasionally fictitious and often embellished, I explore moments where emotion is
so strong that the recollection of actual events becomes clouded. When an attempt to
reconstruct the event fails, a simple emotion is what is left behind. Using personal icons and
collective pop culture images to create associations. The investigation of color, texture, and
interaction between various mediums, with both appropriated and original images, provides
the backdrop to the concept.

I feel that the creation of art is an intensely personal, subjective experience; influenced strongly
by one’s personal journey. It seems a natural progression that the art itself reflects the artist in
both intense and mundane moments, balancing the planned and unplanned, and ultimately
resulting in the feeling that the viewer is experiencing still shots of a different life. Whether
allowing the viewer literal or dream-like glimpses into another’s life, I create the opportunity for
the viewer to feel connected to the artwork and to myself. If the viewer feels as though they can
read the story of the painting, the work can be appreciated within the context of the viewer’s
own personal story, instead of the viewer trying to understand the meaning of the artwork
through my eyes. That is the experience I strive to create.

EDUCATION

2000 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Drawing & Painting        University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

Cocoons
Solo Exhibition
July 27 - August 29, 2008
Evelyn Matthies' Porthole Gallery
Brainerd, MN

2nd Annual Juried Exhibition
Group Exhibition
May-September 2008
St Cloud State University
St Cloud, MN

Summer Salute to the Arts Exhibition
Group Exhibition
June 2008
Franklin Arts Center, Q Gallery
Brainerd, MN
www.crossingarts.org

Winter Salute to the Arts Exhibition
Group Exhibition
December 2007
Franklin Arts Center, Q Gallery
Brainerd, MN
www.crossingarts.org

Graduation Exhibition
May 1999
Katherine E. Nash Gallery
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN

Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition
May 1999
Mezzanine Gallery
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN