Artist Profile

Michelle Farrell

Gallery & Exhibition History

1995-2000    Ferner Galleries,

Parnell & Wellington

1995-1996     Schuberts Gallery, Gold Coast

  Australia

                     Jabaru Gallery, Sanctuary Cove

1997              Gold Coast Sculpture Society

2000-2002     Studio of Contemporary Art,            Newmarket

            Franklin Cultural and Arts                       Centre,  Pukekohe

                      Equine Images Gallery,                                               Cambridge

                      Private Commissions

                    

2001 -2006    Public &  Private Commissions,

  Monumental Equine Works

2000-2009     Statements Gallery, Napier

  Zeayou Gallery, Taupo

  Flagstaff Gallery, Devonport

           Artists Room, Dunedin

                      Heritage Gallery, Cambridge

2009-2010      Parnell Gallery, Auckland

2009               Representing Galleries:

            Parnell Gallery, Flagstaff, Zeayou,                       Statements,  The Artists Room

                       Uxbridge – "Metal Matters"

                       North Shore City Art Awards –     

                       Eye for Sculpture, Clevedon

                       NZ Academy of Fine Arts,                                            Wellington

2010     Representing Galleries:

            Parnell Gallery, Flagstaff, Zeayou,                       Statements, Artists Room

   "Korero" Exhibition - Uxbridge

   (in honour of deceased poet                        Bernard Gadd)

   "Braveheart" Exhibition

   Curator:- Liz Caughey

   Private Commissions

   "Artfusions" -, Northcote

                       " FAMILIARS", Artists Room

                        Dunedin

     Kings  College Art Sale

   Eye for Sculpture, Whitford

                       Tauranga Outdoor Sculpture                     

2011 "Then, Now When"

NZ Academy of Fine Arts,Wellington

"Eastscape" -  Uxbridge

"Pure Passion for Sculpture"

Opening Lyon Gallery, Mt Eden

"Art for their Sake"

NZAFA Fundraiser for Christchurch

Private Commissions

Kings College Art Sale

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"............ this world is indeed a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence ... a single living entity containing all other living entities, which by their nature are all related."

—Plato, Timaeus, 29/30; 4th century BCE

Background

Michelle was born in Nyeri, Kenya and arrived in New Zealand with her family as a young child, where she was raised and educated.  Her roots to New Zealand date back to 1836 on her maternal side.

Michelle's journey into sculpture began in the late 1980's through attending a bronze casting course at the Art School, Dunedin Polytechnic. These studies opened the door to a passion and excitement that has continued ever since. Since then Michelle has continued to produce works mainly in bronze.

Her figurative sculptures have been exhibited in New Zealand and Australia. Her works are regularly shown by a number of well-established fine art galleries in New Zealand.   Her sculptures are held in private collections in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Europe, Germany, Greece, Asia and wider Pacific.  She has also received public and corporate commissions for her work, and has worked extensively in all scales of the bronze medium - from monumental to miniature.

Movement, energy & dance expressions are strong features of Michelle's figurative works, as well as harmonic connections with nature & the cosmos.

Aspects of the human condition are sometimes expressed in humourous and ulifting ways. She seeks to brings a sense of lightness and delicacy to a medium usually associated with weight and substance.

Michelle generally gets a "picture" of a piece within her mind which provides the catalyst/compulsion to physically create the work. Very often she will make a quick sketch of the idea before it is forgotten. She prefers to "go with the flow" and the work may change many times within the creative process.

Michelle has always lived close to nature with a deep love of animals, especially horses. She has been fortunate to receive several monumental commissions to sculpt life-size bronze horses(see here).

An eclectic thinker Michelle is interested in the intersections between art, science and spirituality. Of particular interest to her are the unseen "energy" and spiritual connections which underly and steer existence