I am an abstract oil painter, collage maker, installation builder, and sewer of paper.
My abstract compositions are inspired by personal landscapes, experienced contemporaneously, and layered with historical experiences and found imagery. I am particularly drawn to ecotones and at the edges of water. I document these places in juxtaposed and overlapping layers of information, working through these ideas by refining the composition and color relationships on the canvas as the work unfolds.
I use abstraction as a tool to explore a multiplicity of ideas and to offer entryways into this conversation. While my work is informed by personal landscapes (both emotional and physical), I am interested in how these worlds are considered by others. How they are both familiar and dislocating? And how this work can offer entry points into a speculative space that offers radical alternatives to white supremacy and capitalism.
Inspired by (among many others) adrianne maree brown’s work in emergent strategy and how we get in right relationship with the planet and each other, my creative practice is made of iterative attempts to visualize these strategies for myself, and to offer them as a proposal to others.
The artist in her studio
Michelle Daly works with artists, cultural organizations, and the community as
Daly Arts Consulting.
Michelle Daly is a consultant, curator, and artistic producer focused on creating opportunities for and empowering artists and cultural institutions to realize bold projects. She brings her experience as an artist and arts manager to each opportunity in her signature artist-forward approach to curation, consulting, community facilitation, programming, and creative work.
Michelle has served as public programs director at The Mount and director of the Berkshire Cultural Resource Center. In both roles, she helped facilitate partnerships with artists that resulted in vibrant programming, thought-provoking events, and processes that honor artists’ creative and emotional labor. During her time in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, she has been repeatedly recognized as an outstanding local professional, including as one of Berkshire Magazine’s “Berkshire 25” and as one of 1Berkshire’s “40 Under 40.”
Michelle earned her MA in Performance Curation from the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University and a BFA from Marylhurst University. She has shown her work across the country, including solo or two-person exhibitions in Portland, OR, Los Angeles, CA, Brooklyn, NY, and North Adams, MA.