Michelle Nye

ARTWORK PORTFOLIOS

These portfolios present Michelle’s artwork of photography, paint, drawing, poetry and prose. Most images were taken on journeys through California and the West. Photographing with 4×5, 35 millimeter and Holga film cameras, the images are printed using either Van Dyke emulsion or archival digital printing. Some artworks include poems written to accompany each photo, penned on the image’s surface under layers of acrylics and oils. Themes of bliss, shadow, home, relationship, consumption, abandonment and memory appear in both her personal work and curatorial projects.

FEATURED ARTWORK PORTFOLIOS

  • SITE SEEING

    Photographing California and the West using a Holga camera, these images explore the bliss of accidental discovery, from light leaks on the film to a rusty gas sign around the bend.

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    Square color photograph, with strong light leaks showing the KODAK film backing, of three silhouetted barn buildings, a single tree, and power lines, and overcast gray skies with some bright sky peeking through on the horizon.

  • INHALE EXHALE

    Large format images of coastal California, offering a reminder to aim for the good, pay attention and breath.

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    Michelle Nye is a Bay Area artist and Curator. Black and white wide image of coastal river inlet in foreground, and going into the distance to the right side of image, with hills on both sides, with a pine tree in the center of the image, on a foggy day, with other shrubby trees to its left, and a few trees silhouetted by fog in the distance, near the edge of the inlet.

ADDITIONAL SAMPLE PORTFOLIOS

Horizontal warm toned hand colorized black and white photograph of an old white house in the center of the image with a palm tree off to its left, and fields in the foreground, hints of powerlines that have been painted over in the distance, and clouds painted in the sky, and the hint of hand writing showing on the sky, that was written over the image in black text.

HOME DREAMS

This series explores dreams of home, memory, shadow and relationship with Van Dyke emulsion photo prints layered with text and paint.
Vertical black and white photograph of the corner of a room, with a ripped day bed and a fogged mirror, the hint of hand writing showing on the walls in white text, with subtle warm color painted over the image.

WALL WRITINGS 1

Wall Writings 1 and 2 continue an investigation of abandoned buildings and poetry originally explored in Home Dreams, where now the viewer is inside the buildings, hearing whispers of a discarded past.
Horizontal color photograph of a sink area, with two old facets over a white sink filled with debris and dirt, with linoleum tiles behind the faucets in a 1970s pattern, and the hint of hand writing showing on the walls, that was written over the image in white text.

WALL WRITINGS 2

Wall Writings 1 and 2 continue an investigation of abandoned buildings and poetry originally explored in Home Dreams, where now the viewer is inside the buildings, hearing whispers of a discarded past.
Horizontal warm toned hand colorized black and white photograph of silhouetted hillside with an oak tree and powerlines on the right side of the hill, and clouds painted in the sky, and the hint of hand writing showing on the sky, that was written over the image in black text.

INTERSECTIONS

Reflecting on societal over-consumption and lost love, I explored California and the West by camera, then inked each photo with verse and painted them with oils.