Michelle Arterburn

Studying toward a university degree in civil engineering, I found myself repeatedly drawn to studio art classes. I was fascinated with the intellectual challenge attendant to engineering problems while, at the same time, I was equally taken with the artistic side of projects. And though it very often took me longer to complete my assignments, so doubly focused was I on both the
technical and the aesthetic aspects of the work, my satisfaction with the results increasingly depended on how successful I considered my efforts to have been in bringing together these aspects.

And so today it is still my practice to work in diverse media. In my art I use a variety of media and very often combine them to create a piece; whether jewelry, pottery, weaving or painting; combining contrasting elements that are sometimes rigid and soft or as often fluid and edgy. I find that this is an appealing and addictive way for me to work. My art is about differences and how these differences inspire and compliment one another. As a student of different techniques, my aim is to see how they can be used for other applications in my work.

I want to know how to do new things and then to know how to combine them in my work to make my art. I am a jewelry maker and I am a sculptor. I am a painter in watercolor and oils and I am a weaver. I am a photographer. As much as anything, I consider my work to be a study in contrasts.