MA Fine Art Chelsea College of Arts alum Michele Fletcher, originally from Canada and now based in London, in her last exhibition 'Between a Flutter and a Fold' at Tiger Gallery, brings us on discovering her immersive paintings, representation of tangible life.
Can you share a little about your creative journey?
I began my art education as a mature student after moving to the UK. Beginning with a Foundation in Art and Design, at the City Lit, I then studied for a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, graduating in 2003. In 2006 I gained an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts. Upon graduation, my painting 'Eastbrookend' was acquired for the UAL Art Collection. In 2020 I was delighted to be a prize winner of the John Moores Painting Prize.
How and where do you get inspiration from?
My paintings are informed by the natural world. Relying on visual memory, they are more sensation than a place: a process-led abstracted rumination on light, colour, and form in a garden. They are a rhythmic, gestural, and intuitive response to my immediate surroundings. The making of a garden, like a painting, involves an intervention with the material - pulling, pushing, manipulating, and composing. A reimagining of our relationship with the natural world, the work is rooted in the tradition of landscape painting and the language of abstraction.
You studied an MA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts in 2006. What tools did UAL give you to progress in your career as an artist?
My experience at UAL gave me a network of close friends that have been a continuous support to my practice. The social and critical environment during that particular year has also generated in me a sense of resilience and tenacity to carry on with my work regardless of the outcomes of that production.
What advice would you give to aspiring painters?
Try to paint, or think about painting every day and carry on making despite factors out of your control, or perceived interest in what you do. You should be the first audience for your work.
Congratulations on your last exhibition 'Between a Flutter and a Fold' at Tiger Gallery, tell us more.
Thank you! This is a new body of work produced mainly last November and December. It was an intense and immersive period of making and the largest work I have produced.
Plans for 2023?
I have recently moved to a larger studio and I look forward to exploring making work on a larger scale. I have a few group shows coming up in the UK and Switzerland along with a curatorial project that I am hoping to realise here in London.
