Michele Theberge

Michele Theberge
Oakland, California, USA

STATEMENT

I’ve been investigating the nature of relationships through collage, questioning how these relationships might be a metaphor for our human interactions with other people, animals, plants, the environment,
organizations, political states, ideas. Is it possible for all these disparate elements to come into any semblance of balance or harmony? Is my act of making them contributing to this? Awkward rectangles, lopsided circles, bent triangles and hand-cut ovals bump up against each other, overlap and poignantly touch at precise points. My shapes and patterns are inspired by the delightful irregularity of forms in nature, eschewing right angles and rigid geometries. They layer and lean towards each other, overlapping,
sometimes obscuring, and sometimes revealing the shapes underneath. I’ve been fixated on the oval for some time. In the process of cutting ovals out I am left with sheets of oval shaped holes which in the context of the work function as portals to a new dimension.

BIO

Michele Théberge employs collage, drawing, painting, installation, and interactive projects to explore connections between the material and immaterial worlds. Her work is known for its quiet, meditative quality stemming from a long-standing meditation practice and deep study of nature through native traditions. Seeds of Hope, an installation at New Museum Los Gatos invited visitors to contribute wishes, represented by small watercolor paintings seeds. Kaiser Permanente and UCSF Medical Centers use her paintings to create a calming atmosphere for their patients. Théberge’s works have also been exhibited at the Museum of Kyoto, Sharjah Art Museum, Sakai City Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Craft and Folk Art. She has been an affiliate artist at the Headlands Center for the Arts and a resident artist at the Morris Graves Foundation and at In Cahoots Residency in California and is recipient of two grants from the Center for Cultural Innovation.

ARTIST CONTACT

[click to email]
www.micheletheberge.com

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