Michelle Atkinson is an internationally awarded artist and designer creating contemporary artwork based on her own evolving relationship with the environment 

BIO

Michelle Atkinson is an internationally awarded multidisciplinary artist who creates contemporary artwork based on the environment and humanity’s effect on it. Atkinson earned a graphic design diploma (NMPD’03 with honours) from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Canada with which she has garnered international acclaim and over 30 awards. She was published in Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine (’19) for her copper electroforming work. The only person to win the Made in Alberta Awards (Avenue magazine) three times in three categories over three years (’19, ’21, ’22). Recently she obtained grants from both the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (’22) and the Canadian Council for the Arts (’21) for a year-long installation work at the Leighton Art Centre (’23). Atkinson also donates her time yearly to the Rotary Club of Heritage Park’s Second Chance Art Sale and reclaims broken picture frame glass as part of her practice. Atkinson’s first large-scale permanent public art piece was unveiled as the entrance to the newly designed Wild Canada section of the Calgary Zoo (’23). Her most recent art commission for the Calgary Stampede’s corporate art collection can be found in the newly renovated BMO Centre (’24).

STATEMENT

Driven by an overriding desire to understand, protect, and ultimately preserve the natural world, my work spans many artistic mediums to conceptualize the interconnectivity of our actions. Elements of data visualization, recycling and a tendency for materiality utilizing light and texture are foundational elements in my work. By reducing picture frame glass to glitter-like sand or melting liquor bottles into delicate flowers, my work provokes thought while encouraging understanding concerning the complex beauty and innate fragility in the ecosystems we continue to rely on yet increasingly take for granted. My body of work ranges from sculpture to wall art to themed installations. It evokes a sense of place, shared connection and an almost eerie sense of fading memory and detached familiarity while educating on topics relating to biodiversity and human existence.

My newest body of work uses extreme historical weather data to inform protozoic shapes that act as building blocks for sculptural cloud-form compositions. Disastrous stories are camouflaged in beautiful configurations and shiny materials, warning us not to be distracted by the algorithm, polarized media and consumer culture but to delve deep and find answers for a more sustainable future.