Michelle in the studio (photo by Kelly Hollinshead)
About Michelle…
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Michelle Basic Hendry SCA is an award winning artist and landscape painter. She has been elected by her peers to become a member of the Society of Canadian Artists and the Landscape Artists International. Michelle has lived most of her life in Ontario, but is currently embarking on a new adventure in Oklahoma.
Michelle holds an Honours Degree in History from the University of Toronto and a Diploma with Distinction in Graphic Design from Georgian College and she has instructed at Georgian College in Design. Michelle was an entrepreneur in the field of graphic design for over a decade before turning to fine art full time. Michelle has work in private collections in Canada, the U.S. and the UK.
Biography
I am Michelle Basic Hendry. I am an artist and writer.
A creative life is one of discovery, of seeing the extraordinary in the mundane and sharing it with the world. With the endless possibilities in Nature and in our imaginations, it is no surprise that there are so many art forms with which we communicate. My mediums are paint and the pen.
My artistic journey has been complex. I have tried many things. I have traveled to Egypt, England, France, Eastern Canada and Scotland. I have spent most of my life in central Canada and I now am living in the American West. I have worked as a heritage architecture intern, a book store clerk, a DJ in commercial radio, as a graphic designer and college instructor. Each of those experiences are a part of who I am. An illness in the mid-2000′s forced some significant changes in my life. Everything I had been doing, building and experiencing had to stop and I had to adapt. I was forced to scale back. I started painting and working in stained glass and then I started the blog.
As I grow as an artist I am discovering that there is so much magic in the simple things and that when we really look they can take on different forms. I like to think that my paintings and my writing come together to tell a single story in a way that, neither one alone, can tell.
In my last series, I focused on derelict and abandoned architecture capturing its subtle whispers in peeling paint and crumbling plaster. I want to bring out the grace and beauty of a decaying building and perhaps evoke a memory or create a mood.
In the winter of 2008, I went for a drive down a sideroad in Muskoka and ended up stopping in front of a 110 year old abandoned house in the town of Uffington. The twilight cast the whole scene in a sombre blue. The “Twilight” house started the series. There is something about an old building sitting amongst the snow or wildflowers that inspires my imagination. The many abandoned and derelict places I found in the seasons of 2008-11 were like magic boxes of mystery filled with evidence of another way of life. Every place I have ever traveled from the humble farm to 13th century castles always left their mark in my memory.
My blog became the vehicle for putting the art with the stories. All this has led to an upcoming book sharing the paintings, the stories and the history of the places in my work between 2008 and 2011 – the perfect culmination of my passions for art, writing – and history. And now they are becoming a book. The blog is the first place these stories are told and where series are born.
As much as the formal series has ended with a move 1400 miles away, buildings will always be a part of my art. In the coming months I look forward to exploring my new home and discovering what stories it has to tell. For now, I am in transition. A little of many things from my past are merging with the present and the next formal series has not yet defined itself. I am certain, however, there will be magic…
I am in the process of updating the site with excerpts from the books “Echoes” (available at Auburn Gallery) and the upcoming “A Muskoka Once Imagined”. Each painting will have a small section of prose that will give you a glimpse into what is to come.
Enjoy!
From Collectors:
I have been a long-time fan and over the past years have collected a number of Michelle’s works.There is an understanding in Michelle’s work that goes beyond the surface beauty of her subjects. Her landscapes reflect and pull you into the power of the land, water and sky. They could be anywhere and yet somehow they are profoundly Canadian landscapes – stark beauty from a harsh environment; life in spite of the elements. Her rural scenes are all this with the human element intertwined. Michelle’s background ensures historical accuracy down to the subtle details yet captures the emotions of the setting. The feeling of abandonment is tempered by the experiences of the structures; you can almost feel the families whose lives passed through the walls. It makes the paintings that much more poignant knowing that so many will not remain for much longer. Yet for all their neglect, Michelle has shown the beauty of these buildings – the human elements of structure and detail, but also nature’s beauty creeping along the old bones. There is no hopelessness in Michelle’s rural scenes, rather they are a picture of strength fading gracefully into nature’s arms.
~Kristi Kanitz
Favourite Quotes:
Inside each one of us is an artist. . . . And that’s what an artist is, a child who has never lost the gift of looking at life with curiosity and wonder. Art is not the exclusive possession of those who can draw, write poems, make music, or design buildings. It belongs to all those who can see their way through all things with imagination.
~ Arthur Lismer
Personally I am fond of the old; of old houses, of old furniture, of that quite special mood that these things possess.
~ Vilhelm Hammershøi
Gallery/Representation:
Auburn Gallery of Fine Art, Gravenhurst, ON – Teresa McLaughlin, 705.812.0749
