Bio: BIO
Michele de la Menardiere is a professional fine artist based in San Francisco, California. She has exhibited her work in nationally renowned galleries across the country and participated in two major public art commissions. In 2009, nineteen of her paintings were selected for Emerge, a permanent art installation on the exterior wall of the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City, Virginia. In 2008, her work, Nascent Flight, was chosen for a public artwalk in Washington, DC. Her work was exhibited in the U.S. State Department’s prestigious Art in Embassies Program at the U.S. Embassy in Algeria and the U.S. Embassy in Kosovo. Her paintings are part of the permanent collection at the U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In addition, Michele’s work is part of public collections at the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities’ Art Bank, Westin Hotels, the American Association of Water Agencies, and Stone and Youngberg. Her paintings were featured in the HOME section of The Washington Post in November 2009. Michele holds a degree in Public Art and Design from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, England.

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STATEMENT
Through iridescent color, amorphic shape, and varying texture, Michele de la Menardiere uses an abstract language to explore the rich complexity of the visceral landscape. She creates to inquire into such universal themes as: mortality; beauty; loss; the spirit; conflict; harmony; loneliness; and grace. The process of painting itself is equally as important as the end result. Michele paints as a cathartic response to her constantly evolving energies and emotions. She paints to be present and to connect to something deeply essential and sublime. Through this meditative exercise, each piece becomes an
authentic and passionate expression of existing in the moment.