I am Michelle Basic Hendry. I am an artist and writer.

I am always interested in the process of creating art, in art itself and what people think about art in its many forms. The function of this blog, at least to start with, is to explore that process of art making in a journal style. I will include works of my own, both completed and in progress and photographs of the places I am going. I hope to include the images and thoughts of others – including other artists and the galleries I deal with. Ultimately, it will follow the thoughts, the travels and the experience of art and art making for this artist.

The art world is made up of many people and it is often considered outside of the rest of the world. I think that the greatest art is not exclusive.

Biography

Michelle Basic Hendry SCA is an award winning artist and landscape painter.  She currently resides in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada.

Michelle spent nearly 10 years as an independent graphic designer before deciding to focus on the brush in earnest. For her, it is light and shadow of the country that nourish mystery and spirit and drive her creative process. Art critics and collectors alike have connected with the mood created by the light quality of Michelle’s paintings. Michelle, always a student of natural and man made beauty, captures the image as well as the energy of the places she paints. Her love of the landscape and the respect for its history comes through in each piece. Michelle uses the contrast between the crispness of detail and soft lines to give the viewer a unique experience, moving the eye and holding it’s attention.

Her primary medium is acrylic, preferring full-bodied acrylic paints for their pigment, texture and consistency. Michelle likes to paint thinly and in layers to help her achieve more oil like effects without the long drying time and solvents required for oil painting.

Michelle is a multiple award winning artist and, among her many artistic achievements, she is an elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists and Landscape Artists International. She holds an Honours Degree from the University of Toronto and a Diploma with Distinction from Georgian College in Graphic Design. She has instructed at Georgian College in Graphic Design and has sat as a founding member on the Board of the Arts Council of Muskoka. She has work in private collections in Canada, the U.S. and the UK.

Artist Statement

Always a student of natural and man made beauty, I like to capture the image as well as the energy of the places I paint. My love of the landscape and the respect for its history is integral in my work. I like to use the contrast between the crispness of detail and soft lines to give the viewer a unique experience, moving the eye and holding it’s attention.

My primary medium is acrylic, preferring full-bodied acrylic paints for their flexibility, pigment, texture and consistency. I like to paint thinly and in layers to help me achieve more oil like effects without the long drying time and solvents required for oil painting.

I love form and colour. Landscape and the sense of place can often be a visual metaphor for an emotion, a feeling. Like music in a minor key can evoke a memory of love or loss, sensuality or melancholy, a landscape painting speaks through Light. The angle of light, the saturation of colour and its intensity can evoke those same feelings. A certain amount of realism is required to create recognition and relationship – and specificity – for me.

I paint to raise awareness – not for some cause – but awareness of how much we are reflected in our landscapes. We till them, pave them, grow them, abandon them, observe them, and rarely pause to absorb what we are doing. Our inner landscapes are reflected in these outer landscapes. There is beauty and sadness in all of our geography.

My work is a mirror of places – an artscape. If I am moved, I am driven to share that landscape with another and in so doing, reflect who we are back to us – whether it be a wild place or an abandoned one.

Artscapes – The art of Michelle Basic Hendry

Exhibitions:
2009 McMichael Autumn Art Sale. McMichael Canadaian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON
2008 “Echoes”, solo exhibition, Auburn Gallery, Gravenhurst, ON
2007 Muskoka Arts & Crafts Spring Member’s Show, Centennial Centre, Bracebridge, ON
2005/6 ‘Local Colour’, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON
2005 Muskoka Arts & Crafts Spring Member’s Show, Centennial Centre, Bracebridge, ON
2005 ‘Seeing Red’, Chapel Gallery, Bracebridge, ON
2004 Language of Light, Chapel Gallery, Bracebridge, ON
2004 Kawartha Arts Festival (juried), Fenelon Falls, ON
2004 Muskoka Place Gallery, studio tour guest – Muskokan Lakes Spring Art Tour
2002 Muskoka Arts & Crafts Spring Member’s Show, Centennial Centre, Bracebridge, ON

Gallery/Representation:
Auburn Gallery of Fine Art, Gravenhurst, ON – Teresa McLaughlin, 705.812.0749