Michele L. Escude

Artist Statement

From my earliest memories, I have intuitively tried to harmonize. Whether people, food, design or art, the juxtaposition of contradictory subjects awakens my creativity. My artwork is a rendering of balance and harmony: soft and hard, sweet and spicy, and delicate and rough.

Flowers and people are gifts that I love to interpret with canvas and oils. Each subject that I create has a vulnerable intensity that I like to capture with and extreme approach in rapturous color. Oil allows me to participate in the color and movement that I crave.

Currently I am challenging myself to keep it simple. I ask myself, "Can I paint this part with five strokes instead of twenty-five to achieve the feeling that I am trying to convey?" It has taken me many years to understand this concept in the decorative painting, culinary and design realms. The evolution of my artwork will continue to be a choreographed dance between balance and intensity.

"If you stop and listen there is an ocean of silence - that's the stuff of my work, where I go for ideas or solace or real texture."  -unknown

Bio

As the years have gone by, art seeps out of Michele more that it ever has. A New Orleans Native born in 1966, raised in forged families, has been colored by the carnival of her youth. Ever since she can remember, she was always creating something out of tossed-away items. It was this affinity that initiated her interest in antiques and decorative painting.

Shortly after stumbling upon the love of her life while attending LSU, she was married and moved to Mississippi. Michele currently lives in Jackson with the husband, Craig, and her children, Corinn and Gabriel. She has been afforded the luxury to be at home with her children and discover that art passionately exudes from her mind.

Michele started indulging herself in the creative process of oil after attending two courses from a well-known Mississippi artist who taught her to see the prism of color in every object viewed. Through the encouragement of family, she has finally decided to practice what she has been preaching to her children, "Use your talents."

"It's amazing what art is composed when you're not constantly being influenced to change. It is pure and somewhat raw," remarks Michele. The more she gets pulled away from her New Orleans upbringing, the more tenaciously she holds on to its memories and experiences, looking at them with a more mature, discerning eye. She continues to explore her life on canvas while her children are attending school. Love of God and family will always be her priority.