MICHELLE MARCOTTE, Art Resume
I paint portraits of people in defining spaces, lively portraits of food fresh and prepared, breathing landscapes, wild, garden-fresh florals, and richly colored abstract ideas.
I studied art in Windsor, Ontario at Vincent Massey SS and, at the University of Windsor where I produced oil paintings, drawings and sculpture in bronze, plaster and fiber.
Believing, however, that art would not pay the bills, I spent the next 25 years working as a technical expert, eventually owning regulatory, agri-environmental consulting and medical editing companies in Canada and the United States. My work is quite diverse in the fields of food and agriculture, regulated fine chemicals, radiation processing, science and medical editing. During this time, my art studies were limited to just trying to see. I have travelled to, and worked in, over 40 countries, spending considerable time in museums and galleries in Paris, Vienna, China (Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu), Thailand, England, and several other countries. I have kept my eyes open.
Fifteen years ago, I was looking at the paintings of the Hapsburgs in Vienna and I thought that my middle-class Canadian family was just as interesting, and told the story of Canada as much as the Hapsburgs told the story of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. So, I started to paint again, diving right into oil portraiture.
In 2003 I moved from Ottawa Canada to Maryland to marry a delightful American. I became the Arts Curator of University United Methodist Church on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park and founded the UUMC Visual Arts Guild. In 2011, we moved to Niagara Falls, Canada where I moved my passions for food and cooking into my paintings and began my transition to becoming a full-time artist.
We now live in Lewiston NY, wintering near Gainesville Florida. In these locations I have discovered plein-air painting, so I balance my time between in-studio with fresh food, and outdoors with fresh air.
My art website is: michellemarcotte.com
Michelle Marcotte - Artists Statement
I paint the most important things in life – people, food and the land that sustains us.
I paint people in defining spaces and moments: the 70-yr old man cutting a birthday cake, the girl in her prom dress, the boy on the cusp of manhood about to embark on a canoe trip, the eight year old who has just figured out who she is, the kid who will only make funny faces for the camera.
I do not see my food paintings as 'still life'. I see them as dinner - about the importance of preparing and eating a meal with family and friends, about the swirl of a lively kitchen and the goodness of wholesome ingredients. Food in the kitchen moves from hand to chopping board to table and the foods in my paintings might, bouncing, fly or take a magic carpet ride over the fields. I figure out what I am going to cook, buy it, set it out, photograph it, paint it and then eat it. Some food paintings are symbolic because they also tell stories of where I am or who I am with.
The landscapes I paint are derivatives of reality; I paint landscapes in plein-air or from my own photographs. I am not very interested in detail. I look at agricultural spaces from above, and wild landscapes that capture light, movement and color.
Michelle Marcotte joined Pixels.com Licensing on September 23rd, 2014.
