Michelle Jackson

For me, art and the need to be creative are as necessary as breathing. While I was growing up my mother was the school art teacher and art projects of every kind were as much a part of my daily life as brushing my teeth. Every day was filled with the task of using my imagination to make the world more beautiful. When a child uses their imagination wonderful and sometimes unusual “fanciful” things can happen like strawberry horses, green elephants and blueberry giraffes. Oh My!

I remember how excited I was as a child at placing two cut out shapes of different color construction paper next to each other as if they were fairytale characters that took on a life of their own and played out some happily ever after scenario. I discovered the use of color was a way of telling beautiful stories and I could create the characters and embellish them however I wanted.

I graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and was a NYC fashion designer before I discovered art quilts so that fashion drama shines through in my work. I start with rather ordinary photographs of common people, places or things and manipulate color and value to help create a specific story.  

I hope it encourages people to look at things differently with a sense of newness like that of a child seeing things for the first time with amazement and awe.