Karolina Fund

I paint fervently for long intervals as if I were walking blindfolded through nature, feeling the color with my skin.
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Michelle Bird

Artist

Ég er listamálari og ég býð upp á könnunar námskeið í listmálun fyrir börn, fullorðna og listamenn. I am a painter and I host exploratory painting workshops for artists, adults and children.

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As I weave through this delicate time I am reminded of my beloved mentor Anton Martineau's famous words, " Shall these explosive vitamins help us in our paint thin lives". Hence I hope to reach you with an assortment of art and activities that cultivate and enrich your palettes.

Hot lava pours into the sea, volcanic glass fragments mix with black sand beaches - as a young child Michelle Bird stood at the edge of strong cultural tides, inheriting her Chinese Mongolian artist father's classical eye and her Western mother's courage with bold architectural form. Described as "tactile and erotic," abstract expressionist Bird's paintings radiate the fusion of cultures and colors.

Michelle Bird came early to her love of color as she leaned barefoot into the ocean wind hunting the last subtle green flash in her Hawaiian sunset. When her family moved to California she added the texture of old growth Redwood forests, San Francisco fogs, plump grape vines and desert silt. Her paintings reflect a wide palette of almost Baroque colors.

Michelle Bird has exhibited her art at Galerie Cècile Charron in Paris, Galleria Ingenio in Torino and Galleria del Arte Ill Milennio in Venice Italy, Gallery Knoerle Baetig Fine Art in Winterthur, Gallery Mainau in Zurich, Zurcher Kantonal Bank and AXA Winterthur. In the Netherlands she apprenticed with the painter poet Anton Martineau and attended the Rietveld Academy. In India she learned single bronze casting techniques at the Honey Arts Modelling Center in Chamba. She has received several art grants from SSV Uppbyggingarsjóðs Vesturlands in Iceland, has taken up art residencies at the Baer Art Center and at SIM the Association of Icelandic Visual Artists. Her art works are in the Swiss art collections of AXA Winterthur and Der Landbote.

“Bird’s palette is as colorful as her paintings and her abstract works are full of vitality. Her figurative work expresses transcendental and enigmatic themes. Wherever she and her art are found, there is sure to be a high degree of zest for life.” — A description by the former curator of the Kunstmuseum Basel Erwin Treu

“ Beautiful paintings ! Such energy and life .” — Michel Reilhac Director Arte France

Below is a video showing the original paintings of the Elements. The large panels which are still for sale are The Fire Goddess and the Earth Goddess Gaia.

Abstract works

Commission a portrait painting of someone you love.

Special sizes can be ordered. This large bold oil painting is 140 cm x 140 cm and was exhibited at the museum in Borgarnes.

Teaching and Workshops

ART FOR EVERYONE List Fyrir Alla

From her art studio she hosts exploratory painting workshops for artists, adults and children. In 2020 she was hired to create a series of inspirational teaching videos for the Icelandic Children's Art Foundation List Fyrir Alla. In 2019, the town of Djúpavogshreppur hired her to create a 4 day painting workshop with 18 students who collaborated on creating large abstract paintings that were in turn exhibited at the Egilsstaður Youth Art Exhibition. In 2019 together with Creatrix she established SUFA Stand Up For Art. This culturally funded credit course was offered to the students at the Mentaskolin college in Borgarnes, where she coached and assisted emerging artists in creating a body of art work, presentation of the art and constructing an exhibition. As part of the Gleðileikur Happy Games in Borgarnes in 2017, Bird hosted 40 students at her art studio for a 3 day blind painting workshop. The colourful large panels created by the students adorn the school and is a reminder of their artistic collaboration. From 2016 until 2019 she taught art workshops for the Ungmennasamband Borgarfjarðar Borgarnes. In 2018 she coached students individually for the vocational rehabilitation center Fræðsla Starfsendurhæfing Vesturlands.

Oustide of Iceland she has taught workshops for adults with disabilities for the Cíttá di Torino. Switzerland's Kanton Schule Zürich has invited her to host more than a dozen demonstrations for their program A Wie Atelier. She has given group workshops in experimental and blind painting to the engineers at Google Zürich and the GIS-Zentrum Baudirektion Kanton Zürich.