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Artist Statement:
My art fuses my love for
animals, concern about the
welfare of the planet and
twisted sense of humor. I call
my work "environmental
surrealism". Influences
include kitschy portrayals of
animals from mass-marketed
popular culture, the
nightmarish imagery of
Hieronymus Bosch, Beatrix
Potter, Maurice Sendak, the
writings of Edward Abbey, and
my work as a wildlife
rehabilitator.
My "religious animals"
paintings are a reaction to
the ubiquitous fundamentalist
religion in America as well as
the idea propounded by most
organized religions that
animals have no souls. Some of
my animal characters have
founded their own religion,
complete with nuns, popes and
televangelists. My
environmentally-themed
paintings feature naughty
animals having fun turning our
superiority on its head by
demolishing industrial
objects. Grizzly bears with
jackhammers "restoring" a
freeway, a mountain lion with
an acetylene torch
decommissioning a bulldozer,
arctic wildlife laying waste
to a Hummer dealership and
animals tearing down
billboards for housing
developments are some of the
characters who populate my
paintings.
I also enjoy the disquieting
effect of combining body parts
from different species. As
someone who works with small
animals I often ponder the
evolutionary process - why
creatures look the way they
do. Questions as what ...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
Coming Soon!
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Artist Reviews:
Coming Soon!
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Collections:
Coming Soon!
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Exhibitions for Michelle Waters:
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Selected Solo and 2-Person Exhibits:
2010 Notre Dame De Namur University Library Gallery
2008 Kaleid Gallery - San Jose, CA
2007 Environmental Surrealists – Esteban Sabar Gallery, Oakland, CA (two-person show)
2006 Animal Insurrection – Gallery at Thoreau – San Francisco, CA
2006 Animal Insurrection – Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community College, Grants Pass, OR
2005 Spectators to Destruction – First Street Gallery, Eureka, CA
2004 What the Animals Tell Me – Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
2003 Institute for the Study of Women and Gender, Stanford University, CA
2002 Ecology Center, Berkeley, CA
2000 Inside/Out – Women's Center, U.C. Santa Cruz (2-person show)
Selected Group Exhibits:
2010 Sea No Evil benefit show for Sea Shepherd — Riverside Municipal Auditorium, CA
2010 Mischief — Studio Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 Auto-Manic — Root Division, San Francisco
2010 Free As A Bird — Cactus Gallery, Eagle Rock, CA
2009 The Warm & Fuzzy Show — Eclectix Gallery, El Cerrito, CA
2009 Dementions — Eclectix Gallery, El Cerrito, CA
2009 Solo Mujeres — Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
2008 Speak Out: Art, Design and Politics — 516 arts, Albuquerque, NM
2008 The Circus Show and Other Atrocities — Verge Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2008 Yelling at Your Environment! - Harrington Arts, San Francisco, CA
2007 On the Wing – Exploding Head Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2007 California Centered: the Environment – Merced Multicultural Art Center, Merced, CA
2007 Juried Exhibit – Los Gatos Art Museum
2007 Housewarming – Works Gallery, San Jose, CA
2006 Vanishing Borders – Herndon Gallery, Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH
2006 Curating a Better World – A Shenere Velt Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Flux – Works Gallery, San Jose, CA
2006 Gallatin River Gallery, Big Sky, MT
2005 Earth and Sky IV – Gallatin River Gallery, Big Sky, MT
2005 Trashed: The Dark Side of the American Dream – Gallery Route One,
Point Reyes Station, CA
2005 Alpha/Omega – Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, OR
2005 Crocker-Kingsley Exhibit – Crocker Museum, Sacramento, CA
2005 Fools – Works Gallery, San Jose, CA
2004 Nature's Inspirations – The Farm, Woodside, CA (benefit for Committee for Green Foothills)
2004 Art & Politics – O'Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA
2004 Globalization – Campbell Hall Art Gallery, University of Western Oregon
2003 Arts on Fire – Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
2002 Falkirk Cultural Center, San Rafael, CA
2001 Eco-Art is Eco-Activism – Arts & Consciousness Gallery, JFK University, Berkeley, CA
2000 ANA 29 – Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MT
Awards:
2007 2nd place, Painting, statewide juried exhibition at Los Gatos Art Museum, awarded by juror Marian Parmenter
2004 Honorable Mention, statewide juried exhibition at Los Gatos Art Museum, awarded by juror Phil Linhares.
2003 1st place, Arts on Fire statewide juried exhibition at Sanchez Art Center, awarded by juror Keith Morrison.
1990 1st place, Art for Animals Classic. Sponsored by the National Anti-Vivisection Society.
Selected Bibliography:
2007 February featured artist, Satya Magazine
2006 Dayton Daily News, Dayton, OH, "Earth, Wind & Satire", December 17
2006 Shotgun Review, May 23, "Michelle Waters' 'Animal Insurrection'
2006 Daily Courier (Grants Pass, OR), "Best Bets", January 12, 2006
2005 North Coast Journal, October 20, "Eco-Art", art beat column by Katherine Almy
2005 Humboldt State News, October 3, "Mixed media, eco-art shine at HSU"
2005 Saratoga News, Saratoga Sampler, April 13, 2005
2004 Pacifica Tribune, June 9, 2004, "Sanchez Art Center Celebrates Coming of Summer with Environmental Art"
2004 Saratoga News, Saratoga Sampler, October 13, 2004
2003 Artweek, March 2003, Reviews, "Eco2 at Falkirk Cultural Center" by Frank Cebulski
2001 Face of the Future (Seoul, Korea), "Ecofeminism" by Ahn Ji-Young
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