Description

Dimensions: 20x40"

Medium: Acrylic mixed media, collage and pencil halves on birch panel

Artist Statement: This original acrylic, mixed media piece is a combination of passion, action and obsession. I have challenged myself to create a piece for this fundraiser to bring me back to my easel to create with intention and to give back to this beautiful community I’ve lived in for over 20 years. Action is key to the YVSC. I take inspiration from their commitment to better our lives and futures in the Yampa Valley. 36 hours of layered thought and media lay upon this Da Vinci Pro Birch Wood Panel — the wood sourced from ecologically fast grown forests and cradled with Kiln-dried New Zealand pine. 

Next, comes the obsession with the idea of old pencils stored in the Steamboat Art Depot’s Create Space, a space where community members can donate their unused art supplies. This was brought to mind by artist Jill Bergman after an inspiring meeting for artists about this fundraiser. So, I visited the Depot basement of artsy recyclables twice, retrieving pencils I hand picked from a large bin of probably a thousand pencils all previously used. Not wanting to adhere whole pencils on my panel, I researched how to divide a pencil in half after trying to use a tiny handheld saw on the first try — NOT! Best Answer: Soak pencils in water for 24 hours, then use pliers to squeeze the pencil along the glue line to break apart. I broke each pencil apart and laid it out to dry before using a powerful specialty glue to individually adhere them to pre arranged sections on the panel. The panel is already painted with organic falling shapes and colors mimicking landscape and sky or air. OBSESSION! I then organized and took pictures of the remaining, un-soaked pencils to print & use as collage.  Which are the real pencils, which are the photos of pencils? This answer lies in a deeper look into the piece. YVSC takes a deeper look at every step of their pursuit in preserving our home environment!

My next actions combined layers of paint and more collage. PASSION! I work back and forth between these steps. Magazine pieces with words, color, imagery and shape follow each other to build on the ideas behind the YVSC key values. ACTION! I collaged “Respect” boldly towards the bottom. I included bike imagery (alternative transportation) sharpie drawings, winding river shapes, painted map references, my own torn pieces of unsold paper giclees, cardboard, handmade paper scraps, and my last squeezes of metallic copper paint before it has to be discarded.  All along I thought about patterns in nature, patterns and contrast of colliding shapes, patterns that I see every day in our resilient Yampa Valley. I chose blues, grays and neutrals to build on mountain like shapes and simplicity of palette — the colors in our mountain community.

Describing my process in the creation of “Graphite Descent” is crucial in understanding its depth of meaning. This original work is already defined with strong composition, use of shape and color, and abstract visual reference. Sharing this “INSIGHT” takes the viewer from a casual observation to an invested awareness of artistic intention.

Artist Bio: Artist Michelle Ideus paints and photographs the unique scenery in and around her home in Steamboat Springs, CO.  Michelle’s growing portfolio includes landscape imagery, horse inspired mixed media, abstract alpine flowers, and cruiser bikes. Her passion behind the canvas or lens is fueled by the excitement to reinterpret the ordinary. Michelle’s portfolio includes original acrylic, collage and mixed media paintings on canvas, creative art photography, fine art giclee prints, art greeting cards and commission work.

The Group Real Estate office in downtown Steamboat Springs, is the home of more than a dozen of Michelle’s works, both originals and giclee prints. She has worked with local interior designers to decorate homes and second homes from One Steamboat Place to the Bear Claw Condominiums in Steamboat Springs, CO. Michelle was an owner of Windfall Fine Art Gallery in Steamboat Springs from 2019-2020. She has an upcoming exhibit in December at Rumor Design and Redesign in Steamboat Springs.

Michelle has a BFA from Colorado State University and continues to market her work with a line of greeting cards at Lyons Drug, online sales with professional Steamboat Springs fine art printer PhotoGraphics Art, and through social media sites, Facebook and Instagram.

Artist Website/Social media: http://ideusart.com

Fine Print

Yay! No fine print