BIO

As she creates her mixed media work, Michelle Davis Petelinz is irresistibly drawn to incorporate symbols, patterns, textures and colors found in African and Native American cultures, which are her heritage. Her art-to-wear and wall pieces often feature textured low-fire clay elements; metallic threads; custom-designed stamps; paper beads; gelatin prints; hand painted papers; and alcohol ink paintings. Natural elements of wood, feathers, shells, bamboo, brass and bone beads imbue her work with strong tribal connections.

Michelle often works in a series, visually exploring the cultural significance of decoration and symbology. Her influences include the Ndebele painted houses of South Africa; Korhogo cloth patterns from the Ivory Coast; raffia cloths of Zaire; Ghanaian gold weights; Bogolan mud cloth from Mali; and patterns used in Ethiopian body painting. Her goal is to interpret and incorporate these visual elements so they will resonate with the viewer as objects at once unusual and familiar; evoking ancestral and contemporary design, speaking across cultures to the deep well of the universal.

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