Wednesday, December 4, 2013

A few new small pieces for the holidaze, and three big group shows!

I've been taking a little break after my solo show in October, but I do have three new small pieces in HARK! a big group show for the holidays at Kaleid Gallery in San Jose. The opening is Friday night, December 6th. I will be there, along with some of the other 60+ artists who have work in the show. The show continues through January 18th.

"Once, we were everywhere"  (c) 2013 Michelle Waters
9" x 12" - acrylic on wood.
Proceeds from the sale of this piece to go to the Center for Biological Diversity.

"Don't Say Goodbye" (c) 2013 Michelle Waters
4" x 6" - acrylic on wood.
Proceeds from the sale of this piece to go to Elephant Aware Masai Mara.

"Rhino Peace" (c) 2013 Michelle Waters
4" x 6" - acrylic on wood.
Proceeds from the sale of this piece to go to the David Sheldrick Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya.

I also have work in two other group shows for the holidays: "Tiny" at Studio Gallery in San Francisco (through December 24th), and "Tiny Treasures" at Cactus Gallery in Los Angeles (through January 31st). I've been showing at Studio Gallery for 6 years now, and at Cactus Gallery for 4 years. Both galleries are owned by great people who make the gallery experience stress-free and fun.

I'm extremely grateful for everyone who supports my art, and the art of other living artists, as well as the small mom and pop galleries who do what they do out of love for the creative spirit. It's not easy to keep an independent art gallery going in this economy, so please, support these folks who keep artists visible! Thanks so much for your support, and Happy Holidays!

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

"We Are All Animals" solo show at Kaleid Gallery in San Jose

I've finished hanging my solo show, "We Are All Animals", at Kaleid Gallery in San Jose. The opening is this Friday, October 4th at 7pm, and the show runs through October 26th. I will be donating all of my portion of sales to Animal Place, a Grass Valley sanctuary for abused survivors of our industrial food system. For purchase information, please contact Kaleid Gallery at 408.947.1785 or through their website.

I created 11 new paintings for this show, and also hung 3 older pieces. Below are the new pieces...

"The Activist's Heart" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 37" x 37"

"Going...Going...Gone" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 24" x 37"

"One Billion a Year" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 16" x 20"

"Terror" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 24" x 18"

"Love One, Kill the Other" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 18" x 24"

"Gallus neglectedus" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 10" x 10"

"The Cruelest Holiday" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 10" x 10"

"Not Like Sheep to the Slaughter" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 10" x 10"

"Goat Cheese is the New Veal" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 10" x 10"

"Someone's Stolen Child" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 10" x 10"

"Smarter Than Your Dog" (C) Michelle Waters 2013 - 10" x 10"

Monday, September 30, 2013

My painting, "What's for Dinner?" in Direct Art Magazine.

Just got my copies of Direct Art Magazine in the mail, with the piece below included, along with my statement about what we do to farmed animals. It's on page 33 if anyone is interested. Click here to read...
"What's For Dinner?" (C) Michelle Waters

Here's my statement about the painting, which appears in the magazine below it: “What’s For Dinner?” plays with the question of what would happen if animals could get back at humans for what we do to them. What if they raised humans for meat? What if animals took our babies away from us so they could use our breast milk for their own species?  It is part of a series of paintings where I use sardonic humor to explore what would happen if the tables were turned and animals had the power instead of us.

We slaughter approximately 10.2 billion land animals for food in the U.S. alone each year. These animals have lives and families that are important to them, yet most of us consume meat and animal products without thinking about who they are eating, and about the suffering that farmed animals endure.

With over 7 billion humans on the planet, the question of how to feed that many humans is a dire one. Most grain is fed to farmed animals while millions of people in third world countries starve, making animal agriculture incredibly inefficient for feeding our ever-growing human population. Not to mention the fact that animal agriculture is the biggest single contributor to global warming, per the United Nations.

"What’s For Dinner?” is my attempt to nudge the viewer to ponder the darker realities of how we get our food, realities which our society mostly sweeps under the rug.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Featured artist at Kaleid Gallery for October, 2013

I've been hunkered down in my studio this summer preparing for a solo show at Kaleid Gallery in San Jose this October. In a few weeks I will post all the new work I've done for the show on this blog. For now, here's the show postcard. The opening is October 4th, and it will run through October 26th.




Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Blog love, and a big group show

I'm happy to share that I'm a featured artist this week on Artsy Shark, a great art blog. Artsy Shark does a really nice job helping artists to shine, by featuring quite a few large images and text by the artist. Here's the feature...

And, I'm one of a large group of artists helping celebrate MF Gallery's 10th anniversary at their Brooklyn, NY gallery. The show opens on June 8th. Below is more info.


Thursday, May 9, 2013

Octopope in Sleeps With the Fishes!

Hello loyal blog followers, all 3 of you. I'm very happy to have a painting included in "Sleeps with the Fishes", a group show of dark nautical art at Rothick Art Haus in Anaheim. This is a show with Splendor Device, a super cool Southern California all female artist collective. The show opens this Saturday, May 11th, and runs for a month. Do check it out if you're in the area!


"Octopope" - 12" x 9" - 2013

Okay, the truth is that I've been wanting to paint an Octopus pope or priest for a long time. So I was super excited to be invited to be in this show so I could paint my scary religious mollusc!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Group show at Tasty Gallery in Seattle

I will have a  couple of new tiny paintings in a show of creature art at Tasty Gallery in Seattle. "Odd Birds" runs from May 8th - June 10th. This is the first time I've shown at this gallery that a few of my artist friends regularly show at. The new pieces are animal hybrids, something I hadn't painted in a few years, but they were requested. They were a lot of fun to do, especially as I'm working on a really somber new body of work for my solo show at Kaleid this Fall. So it was nice to get back into silly mode for a bit. Below are the paintings. If you're interested in purchasing, please contact Sheri at Tasty.

"Cat Finch" -  4 x 6 - Acrylic on wood

"Mockingcat" -  4 x 6 - Acrylic on wood

Monday, April 1, 2013

"Petroleum Paradox" group show in Fall River, MA

Hey there, my painting “American Nightmare” is in a group show, “Petroleum Paradox”, at Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, MA. This is a continuation of the same show that took place last year at Denise Bibro Fine Arts in NYC. To paraphrase juror Eleanor Heartney of Art in America, “… the thoughtful works that comprise this exhibit present questions, such as ‘How do we balance economic development, environmental protection, and geopolitical stability in an ever more precarious world? What are we willing to give up today to avoid catastrophe tomorrow? Where should we commit our resources? How should we define our social and economic priorities?’”

An online catalogue will be available on the Narrows Center website.

Here's my painting for the show, inspired by the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, the destruction of indigenous peoples' land by oil companies and watching a hummer limo make a three-point turn...

American Nightmare - painting by Michelle Waters
"American Nightmare" - Michelle Waters - 20" x 30" acrylic on canvas


Sunday, February 24, 2013

The Octopus Art Project

I'm delighted to have one of my paintings included in a wonderful coffee table art book: "Eight Arms of Inspiration - the Octopus Art Project" published by Out of Step Books. Featured in this extensive collection are: paintings, drawings, tattoos, sculptures, sketches, photographs, graffiti art, digital art, jewelry, poetry, glasswork, cloth art, pottery, bronze work, cake art, and so much more - all centered on the octopus as the inspirational and creative focus. Below is my painting that is included in the book.


"Octopussy" - Acrylic on Canvas - Michelle Waters

Friday, February 8, 2013

My latest commissions!

I've been painting for almost 30 years at this point (how did this happen?) and I've painted a lot of odd and different things. Here's a commission I just finished, and rather than explain who inspired this painting I'll leave that to the viewer's imagination. This is a portrait of the client's companion rabbit.


Here are two commissions that I finished late in 2012; the first is of the same rabbit in Victorian dress, the second is the family's female rabbit, dressed as a proper Victorian lady.





I really had a lot of fun creating all three of these paintings! And now, after painting all these rabbits, I'm on to my next subject: chickens...

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

SustainAbility group show in Malibu, CA

Two blog posts in one week, what's the world coming to?! I'm very happy to have a painting included in an eco art exhibit at Art for All People in Malibu (my old stomping grounds). SustainAbility opens February 4th and runs through March 20th. Art for All People is at 19562 Pacific Coast Hwy, near Las Tunas Beach. They'll be showing one of my "Homeland Security" paintings, below:

"Homeland Security 1" - 11 x 14 - acrylic on canvas

And here's the flyer for the show:


Friday, January 25, 2013

A show for the new year

So I haven't been exactly good about updating this blog, and I am going to try to be better about it this year! I'm in a big group show in San Jose at the Usuals, which opens tonight. The name of the show is "Vital" (as in, it's vital to have art), and here is my piece for the show.

Toadally Spellbound
"Toadally Spellbound" - 10" x 8" - acrylic on wood panel



I had a tough time naming this one so had a contest on my Facebook page and the winner got a print from me. The contest was really successful-there were several very witty titles offered but in the end, Laura C.'s title won out!