I am a painter and mixed media collage artist currently living in Roanoke, Virginia. In 1997, I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) with a major in illustration and minor in art history. I am reachable thru my Contact page or via email at michelle@mcdowellsmith.com.
My Inspiration - “Of Land and Sky ~ Whimsical and Free”, which began in 2014, is the title of my current body of work. I imagined creating art that was softly surreal with a storybook sensibility. I wanted it to feel hopeful and aspirational, yet also include themes reflecting on disappointment, loneliness, and the loss of innocence. I continue to try to elevate the sense of wonder, romance, and optimism to which we aspire, while accepting the sadness and incompleteness we sometimes succumb to. I feel that the buoyant and promising themes are felt more intensely because of these somber elements coexisting in the work.
My Process - I most often work on canvas, but occasionally on wood or gesso board. My initial sketches tend to be loose and simple, but as I am a thorough planner, they eventually become much more extensive. Once sketched onto the canvas, I gather my collage materials. These are vintage prints, hand-crafted papers, sewing patterns, maps, old letters and postcards, vintage book pages, and more. I am deliberate with what I choose to collage and where it is placed on the canvas. These meaningful details give a sense of nostalgia and help tell the story of the piece. I collage and seal this ephemera onto the canvas, creating almost a silhouette of the subjects who will appear in the work.
Next I begin painting. At this point, nothing escapes my brush. I paint into every collage element, creating animals or other subjects full of emotion over the papers, bringing the piece to life. I add or alter color. I create depth. I eliminate some details and keep others, blending everything seamlessly into the whole.
Finally, I finish the piece with 3 or 4 layers of a protective gloss varnish. Upon completion, each piece is digitally captured. That allows me to create giclée quality reproductions printed on archival canvas and fine art papers.
If you want to know more about how I feel towards the collage part of my process, please continue reading. Thanks!
It is my intention to have the art I create hold metaphors, symbols, and whole stories with varying meanings. I feel that the collage elements of my work help me to accomplish that.
(If you scroll down there are three before and after type examples of the initial collage layer and then the finished piece.)
The pieces I choose to collage all have a specific history embedded within. They all have their own story and they all come from specific places and were created with specific purposes.
A fair amount of the collage that I use is more than a hundred years old. I tend to think that they survived the decades because they meant something special to someone. The ideas and thoughts that were placed in them at the time of creation struck a chord. Whoever chose not to discard it, but instead to save it and to keep it in good condition, knew there was a story there. And that story needed to be kept alive, kept protected, and passed on.
These are the things that seep into the collective conciousness. I doubt most people are specifically aware of almost any single piece of collage that I’ve used. Yet we are familiar with almost all of them in a very general sense. They might be generations removed but in their moment they inspired the next wave of artists who then created something similar but more attune to their own time. And then again with the next generation. And then again. All of which then filters into our lives in all the ways we come across art. They appear in films. They are alluded to in books. We see them in museums and other public spaces.
I truly believe this is why I often hear someone say to me, “I feel like I’ve seen your work before, but I know I haven’t.” Other times they ask, “What is this nostalgia I’m feeling as I look at this piece?”
It’s not only the collage. I think the subject matter I choose, and my specific painting style, these things greatly contribute to the creation of emotion, nostalgia, and familiarity. But the collage is important. The collage allows me to lean into stories and histories that swirl around us from the time we are children. They’ve shaped the way we see the world without us evening knowing or remembering or sometimes understanding.
I do get asked, “Is everything in this piece something you painted by hand?”
And a typical response of mine is, “No, there is a layer of collage under what I have painted.”
And not always but on occasion they seem dissappointed or disillusioned. Which leaves me wanting so much to explain all that I’ve said above. I want to say, “But, the collage is the point. It wouldn’t be the same had I painted it all. How could it?” But, it’s seldom the right time or moment, and so I offer a more simple response. And that’s okay. Maybe they might end up here and have a spare moment to read this. I hope so.
Below are multiple examples of the initial collage layer and the finished piece.
An in process photo of my piece Mountain Whisper. This is the collage layer before I’ve begun to paint at all. In total there are 12 different pieces of ephemera. I’ve pieced them together to create a silouette of what will become the bear. Once I begin painting it goes slowly. I don’t what to lose the details in this collage layer. If I mistakenly paint over elements that I was hoping to keep, there is no getting them back.
A photo of the same piece after I painted the bear. I feel like I successfully managed to keep the essence and stories found in the underlying collage layer. The details I thought would help convey meaning and emotion are the ones that I kept. The others I painted away. The bear is full of both love and strength. Her heart is wide open. At the same time she will not back down. She will not surrender. She is wild and rugged. She is tender and sweet.
In the initial layer of collage, there are ten (maybe eleven) different papers that were used to create the cherub statue. I really wanted the caged bird in their chest. I wanted the trees on their legs to appear as vines growing and creeping. I wanted the floral pattern in the sash. I wanted the angel. The children. I wanted all of it!
I think this is a good example of when I say, “Nothing escapes my brush”. In the finished piece I hope you can tell that it was a meticulous process to blend, to create depth, and to have this stone statue of an angelic child hold such emotion in their face. I painted to accentuate the details in the collage while also bringing the cherub to life.
Again, there are about ten different papers that make up the rabbit, including pages torn from books, vintage illustrations, and antique prints. At the center of the rabbits chest are two loves embracing and lost in a kiss.
Painting with acrylic paint (and using some glazing mediums) I added color and depth. I blended each collage piece together to create the rabbit. I love how the lovers are almost a second focal point - the first being the rabbit’s face and gaze
awards
Since 2014 I’ve participated in more than 100 juried art shows and festivals. Here’s a list awards/accolades over that time.
Award of Merit - Images: A Festival of the Arts - New Smyrna Beach, FL - 01/2025
Award of Distinction - Ocala Arts Festival - Ocala, FL, 10/2024
Best of Show - Festival in the Park - Charlotte, NC - 09/2024
Best of Show - Glencoe Festival of Art - Glencoe, IL - 07/2024
Best of Show - Taubman Museum Sidewalk Art Show - Roanoke, VA - 06/2024
Award of Merit - Artsplosure - Raleigh, NC - 05/2024
Award of Merit - Gasparilla Festival of the Arts - Tampa, FL - 03/2024
Award of Commendation - Images: A Festival of the Arts - New Smyrna Beach, FL - 01/2024
Award of Distinction - Ocala Arts Festival - Ocala, FL, 10/2023
Featured Artist - Bayou City Art Festival - Houston, TX, 10/2023
Best in Show - Festival in the Park - Charlotte, NC, 09/2023
Best in Show - 2D Mixed Media - Lazy Daze Arts and Crafts Festival - Cary, NC - 08/2023
Award of Merit - Syracuse Arts and Crafts Festival - Syracuse, NY - 07/2023
Award of Merit -2D Mixed Media - Sidewalk Art Show - Roanoke, VA - 06/2023
Best of Show - Art in the Park - Blowing Rock, NC - 05/2023
Best of Category: 2D Mixed Media - La Quinta Art Celebration - La Quinta, CA - 03/2023
Award of Commendation - Images: A Festival of the Arts - New Smyrna Beach, FL - 01/2023
Featured Artist - Cottonwood Art Festival - Richardson, TX, 10/2022
Best in Show - Utah Arts Festival - Salt Lake City, UT - 06/2022
Judges’ Choice - Chain of Parks Art Festival - Tallahassee, FL - 04/2022
Best in 2-D Mixed Media - Dogwood Festival - Atlanta, GA - 04/2022
Award of Distinction - Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival - Pensacola, FL - 11/2021
Award of Merit - Ocala Fine Arts Festival - Ocala, FL - 10/2021
Best of Show - Mixed Media 2D - Art Fair on the Square - Madison, WI - 09/2021
Judges’ Choice 2-D - Ridgeland Fine Arts Festival - Ridgeland, MS - 05/2021
Award of Distinction - Ocala Fine Arts Festival - Ocala, FL - 10/2019
Featured Artist - Ocala Fine Arts Festival - Ocala, FL - 10/2019
Best of Show - Mixed Media 2D - Art Fair on the Square - Madison, WI - 07/2019
Featured Artist - Art Fair on the Square - Madison, WI - 07/2019
Award of Merit - Leeper Park Art Festival - South Bend, IN - 06/2019
Award of Merit - Artsplosure - Raleigh, NC - 05/2019
Best in 2-D Mixed Media - Dogwood Festival - Atlanta, GA - 04/2019
Judges’ Choice 2-D - Ridgeland Fine Arts Festival - Ridgeland, MS - 04/2019
Featured Artist - Scottsdale Arts Festival - Scottsdale, AZ - 03/2019
Award of Commendation – Images Art Festival – New Smyrna Beach, FL - 01/2019
Best in Show - Ocala Arts Festival - Ocala, FL - 10/2018
Judges Choice Award - Festival in the Park - Charlotte, NC - 09/2018
Invitational Artist Award - Art Fair on the Square - Madison, WI - 07/2018
Judges Choice Award- Artsplosure - Raleigh, NC - 05/2018
Award of Merit - Magic City Art Connection - Birmingham, AL - 04/2018
Award of Excellence - Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival - Winter Park, FL - 03/2018
2-D Honorable Mention - State Street Art Fair - Ann Arbor, MI - 07/2017
Invitational Artist Award - Art Fair on the Square - Madison, WI - 07/2017
Best Mixed Media Artist - Virginia Highlands Summerfest - Atlanta, GA - 06/2017
Award of Merit - Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival - Pensacola, FL - 11/2016
Award of Merit - Ocala Fine Arts Festival - Ocala, FL - 10/2016
Best of Show - Festival in the Park - Charlotte, NC - 09/2016
2nd Place Overall - Arts in the Heart Festival - Augusta, GA - 09/2016
Best in Mixed Media - Lazy Daze Arts and Crafts Festival, Cary, NC - 08/2016
2-D Honorable Mention - State Street Art Fair - Ann Arbor, MI - 07/2016
Director's Choice Mixed Media - Mandarin Art Festival - Jacksonville, FL - 03/2016
Award of Commendation – Images Art Festival – New Smyrna Beach, FL – 01/2016
Best of Show – St Augustine Art Festival – St. Augustine, FL – 11/2015
2nd Place Overall – Piedmont Park Art Festival – Atlanta, GA – 08/2015
Award of Distinction – Boca Raton Fine Arts Festival – Boca Raton, FL – 01/2015
Award of Merit - Downtown Festival and Art Show – Gainesville, FL – 11/2014
Poster Artist – Chastain Park Fall Festival – Atlanta, GA – 11/2014
Poster Artist – Atlanta Arts Festival – Atlanta, GA – 09/2014
3rd Place Overall – Piedmont Park Art Festival – Atlanta, GA – 08/2014
Director’s Choice Award – Chastain Park Spring Art Festival – Atlanta, GA – 05/2014
1st Place 2-D Mixed Media - Shrimp Festival – Fernandina Beach, FL – 05/2014