Michelle Forsyth

Michelle Forsyth makes work depicting the clothing of her husband. Her faithful depictions of his plaid shirts elbow their way into the tradition of abstract painting, yet the paintings’ titles suggest a personal narrative that underlies the work. She holds an MFA from Rutgers University and a BFA from the University of Victoria. Michelle serves as the head of painting at Washington State University in Pullman and she is represented by Mulherin & Pollard (New York) and ADA Gallery (Richmond, Virginia).

Michelle received 2010 GAP Award funding to pay for a studio assistant in the creation of two large-scale works. She has recently been invited to create two floor-based installations for two separate exhibitions. These installations will be made from thousands of hand-cut pieces of watercolored paper and beads, mounted to the ends of pins and set into flexible rubber floor panels.

Michelle received 2007 GAP Award funding to cover travel and shipping costs for a solo exhibition at the Hogar Collection Gallery in Brooklyn, New York. For the exhibition, Michelle continued her series of work entitled Florescence (Flowers for Iraq), in which she translates horrific images of Iraqi civilian casualties into intricate and beautiful patterns, comprised of thousands of hand-cut circles and flowers mounted to the end of insect pins. Several brightly colored polygonal forms, resembling small explosions will also be exhibited.