Michelle Leigh
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Michelle Leigh North West based Fine Artist Michelle Leigh’s work deals with a sense of place. She is interested in using the paint as a language to express an experience and is inspired by those in between moments of clarity that interrupt our busy activities. Her chosen mediums are oil paint,watercolour and handmade prints, etchings and woodcuts. Her work is at its core rooted in the everyday with subjects ranging from deserted bandstands to sea fronts and backstreet s in which life is enacted. She has exhibited widely in this country and has work in private and public collections around the world including Portugal, USA, London, Manchester Airport, Manchester City Galleries and Rutherston's Art Collection. She also works as a freelance creative practitioner for English Heritage, Tate Liverpool and The Lowry, Salford. Her artists' studio is currently based in Manchester city centre. Etchings and woodcuts begin from £180 15 x 13 cm, watercolour paintings from £250 14 inches x 12 “, oils from £400 12 x 10 “ to large 5ft oils £3000. Background Michelle was awarded a first class degree in fine art at Manchester Polytechnic in 1986, and a British Academy Major State Studentship to pursue an MA in Fine Art at Newcastle University 1988. She has lived and worked in both the North West and North East. Solo shows include Stockport Art Gallery, Gallery North in Cumbria, Castlefield Gallery in Manchester, Astley Cheetham in Tameside, Dukes Oak in Cheshire, Salford Museum and Art Gallery and Every Man Gallery in London. Group shows include Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, Wendy J. Levy, Firbob & Peacock ,Cheshire,Ben Uri, London, Manchester Academy of Fine Arts, Manchester Jewish Museum, Reynolds Fine Art, London, Hanover Galleries Liverpool and Original Arts Harrogate. Recent publications include 2006 ‘A Colourful Canvas’ 12 Women Artists in the North West by Judy Rose and Wendy J levy, ‘Who’s Who In Art 33rd Edition’2008,’ ’ Dictionary of International Biography2008’ and ’World Who’s Who of Women-15th Edition’ 2009. Selected excerpts from the press: ‘A deft touch in the handling of oil and watercolour…emotive use of resonant colours….evokes the pure pleasure of painting….refreshing to view time honoured work bereft of irony’ Tim Birch, City Life. ‘Human drama…is captured in brushwork that is vibrant, vivid, quick, controlled and confident..The paintings smoulder with small scale intensity’ Mike Butler. Inspiration Michelle is interested in capturing a sense of place, distilling the visual information to its essence with sketch books acting as aide-mémoire. Her work evokes an experience associated with place rather than literal representation. Inspired by places as far afield as Prague and North Manchester she draws upon two cultures, her Jewish background and modern life. To paper and canvas Michelle uses oil paint, watercolour, etching and woodcuts to explore the world around her. She often starts with sketches in pen or pencil , when in the studio pruning back memory to the essential parts of information.
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