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ONLINE ECOURSES WERE A SAVIOR DURING COVID CONFINEMENT


At the end of a 14-day quarantine after rushing back from Mexico in March 2020, I was eager to go back to my studio. I was able to work safely thanks to the large space I have to myself. But life at Complexe Canal Lachine was quiet without meeting fellow artists in the restaurant downstairs or enjoying short chats at the fountain. This is about the time I discovered artist Gillian Lee Smith browsing portrait photos online. I was immediately attracted to her unique expression and mark making and enthused by the online workshops she offered. I first booked Drawn to Expression followed by Portrait, Your Art, Your Way, two four-week programs.

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I then jumped on the occasion to be counted as one of the lucky ones to embark on her 9-month long program Building a Body of Work, a decision that changed my life as an artist.









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MICHÈLE ATKINSON is a Canadian contemporary artist. Her artwork explores the theme of absence relating to the passage of life cycles. She got interested in traces of people and events blurred by time looking at her grandmother's photo albums full of black and white snapshots telling stories of lives lived. 

She developed a love of textures creating designer sweaters with the rich curly coats of the sheep and angora goats she raised on her farm. Michèle studied at the Visual Art Centre in Montreal and has since had solos shows and participated in group exhibitions in Montreal, Toronto, Quebec City and Baie Saint-Paul.  Her work has been shown in international Art Fairs in the United States, England and Hong Kong as well as being in private collections in Canada, the United States and Europe.

Originally from Quebec City Michèle graduated with a BA in translation from Université de Montréal.  She lives and works in Montreal, and maintains a summer studio in Vermont.