Michele's work is so clean and refreshing, which is a result of using fresh pastel colours and hints of pattern. I love how she combines her little paintings with collages in the background, and I'm amazed at her talent! Her work just has this certain charm you recognize right away.
Name (Real or Screename): Michele Maule
URL (Blog, Website): http://www.how2drawacupofcoffee.blogspot.com,
http://www.michelemaule.com
Location (Where are you from?): I live in Pontiac, Michigan for the time being. However, I will be moving to Portland, Oregon in May! I've lived many many places, but Portland is my favourite. Always.
Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Me.
Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A:I love working with old books, and library cards. When they were getting rid of the card catalog system at my college, they would put stacks of the cards out for students so they could use them as scratch paper. I would go in about once a week and swipe as many cards as I could so I could use them in my collages :) Those are my favourite!
Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: Collage has been a part of my work for some time now. I started making art about 8 years ago, and I started by painting, and trying to incorporate collage into it as much as I could. I'm not really sure what made me start. I think I just really loved the idea of incorporating text into my art.
Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: I am an artist. I am also an awesome girl friend, and doggie mom :)
Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I graduated from Portland State University with a degree in Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking with an emphasis on Printmaking.
Q: Explain your favourite techniques.
A: I love coating my paintings and collages with beeswax. It creates a lovely depth to the papers and also makes them rich and transparent. I LOVE it. I think I mostly love the unpredictability of it. I know how some papers react to the wax, but not all paper. So sometimes it's a lovely surprise.
Q: Describe your favourite piece ever created.
A: It has to be my painting titled "Alternative Modes of Transportation", a painting where a woman is riding on the back of a turtle. I found the image in the back of a National Geographic and there really wasn't an explanation
as to why she was riding on the back of a turtle. Other than it use to be some sort of past time at Coney Island in the 1940s. I also just love the texture that I was able to create, and overall I really love it.
Q: What other artists do you admire?
A: There are so many. I honestly don't know where to begin.
Kiki Smith, Sophie Calle, Frida Khalo, and Robert Rauschenberg, are the ones that I feel have really influenced my work.
Thanks Michele!