Miss michelle and her art

"Pocketful of Sunshine"

Pen, Coffee, Watercolours on Handmade Envelopes
52.0cm x 21.5cm

Pocketful of Sunshine, a series of illustrations on handmade envelopes, was produced as a visual travelogue, in a response to a volunteer expedition to Borong-Polok Paper Making Unit on the Sikkim Himalayas in India.

"In just 2 weeks, a strange bond was forged between myself (as a volunteer) with the villagers- and it was a warm and indescribable feeling I've never experienced in my life. I came back to the fast paced Singapore feeling recharged, exceptionally happy and missing everyone from Borong.  I imagined myself writing long letters to my new friends, and on hindsight, it felt that it'll require more than a regular sized envelope to capture the smile of the sun for my dear friends with big hearts residing in the humble village. Hence, these odd sized envelopes, with illustrated memories, were made to hold the never ending letters I'd write to these wonderful souls." - Miss Michelle

Absurd Tragedies of Life
A series of Illustrations/Studies for the book, The Scene Unfold
Mixed Media (charcoal, graphite, colour pencil, pyrography, etc.)
2008

"Absurdity strikes yours truly not only in “any street corner”, but also in every corridor and walkway in her very own “cozy” dwelling THEY call a “home”."

"We are all participants in this theatre of the absurd. The constant need to define and explain ourselves for each action taken, the repetitive struggle for impractical goals and naive expectations, is utterly illogical. In this “sense”(does it even make sense anymore?), people, in their absent-mindedness, fail to remember the human condition of individuals. Parents especially, have a tendency to enjoy the engagement with societal pressure in maintaining jobs and other materialistic aspects of life that they tend to overlook emotional and holistic upbringing of their children. They find the need to conform and breed children and correct their behaviour in their own methods, in order for the “micelings” to survive in this ridiculous rat race."

"The Scene Unfold: Absurd Tragedies of Life challenges and mock the effects of the rat race on THEM , as I find that they create this facade to fit into society, for their reputation. As a result, I realised that I have become a product- THEIR “packaged product”. I see the scene unfold in my tragic experiences with THEM and I have accepted and learnt to work my way around in the tragedies of this senseless stage show."

"*THEY/THEIR/THEM refers to parents, in general, Asian parents."

- Miss Michelle

All of the above is taken from www.michywitchy.weebly.com, where you can find more pictures on the above works and more artworks that Miss Michelle have done.

Miss Michelle is our art technician who recently joined in our big ART family this year. She is fun, amazing, outspoken and totally cool :D

But what is most cool about her is her art. Miss Michelle is probably one of the few people I know that actually works with so many different mediums, like pen, watercolour, colour pencil, charcoal, book binding and screen printing and etc etc. Her art has so many different varieties and each one somehow has an interesting story behind it. Having her explain to me some of her artworks or exhibitions she puts up really sparks my interest and makes me really excited for reasons I do not even know! (It also calmed my nerves because I had to do my viva voce that evening!). I never experienced or came in touch with even half of what she has and that made me really excited to even think about trying out new ways and mediums to create art, instead of drawing and painting.

Miss Michelle explained how she met different people during trips to India and such, and how she incorporated what she had seen, what she had done and who she had met into her artworks, like in "Pocketful Of Sunshine". It made me feel that her works are very personal ones, and not just some artwork that I see in art exhibitions and in galleries. I felt that having the artist actually telling us the background story is very personal and sincere and I prefer it instead of going to the gallery and trying to guess what some artwork actually means. Somehow, that way makes the artworks feel very cold and distant and does not touch my heart at all. That is one thing good about Miss Michelle and her works: she explains them in her quirky ways, tells us what she had felt then and that made my heart really warm to see how an artist can be so enthusiastic towards her work :D

Miss Michelle also seems to be very knowledgeable and in touch with the art scene in Singapore. She showed us exhibitions she held, gatherings she organized and even the fleas she participated in. It made me feel as though the Singapore art scene is not so small anymore! She even told us about this gathering where random people can just sit in and do some craft work like knitting or crocheting and how it is like a mini art community, where everybody can learn about different craftwork from others and be exposed to different people who hold an interest towards art. She said the gathering was to raise awareness about craft and how craft is also a form of art.

Miss Michelle has exposed me to different forms of art and craft and has let me experience a very personal introduction to her works. She has inspire me to want to explore and experiment with all types of mediums, try out different ways to create and make art a very simple and personal thing that can liven up my life. I am motivated to make art close to my heart and I thank Miss Michelle for what she has done, even though I think she does not really think much of what she has done.

Many many thanks to Miss Michelle Lim and I just want to dedicate this post to you :D