Michelle was drawn to the blue haze of Blackheath in 1997, raised her three children in the upper mountains whilst maintaining her art practice, facilitating workshops throughout Australia and the USA. She now resides in an empty nest overlooking the vast expansive Wollemi on the edge of the Blue Mountains perched in a small fringe town. Michelle is a practicing fibre artist, has a BA(Visual Arts) and Masters in Art Therapy, has exhibited in California, Florida, Connecticut, Quebec, Tasmania and throughout NSW, VIC & ACT. Her art yarn designs have been published in three books: Hand Spun; Intertwined; and Hand-spinning and Dyeing Yarn. Michelle’s recent arts-based research explores the connection between materiality and neuroscience, the many knowledges and ways in which interactions with art materials affect emotional and mental health and well-being. “My hands explore a tactile knowing through twisting fibres into yarn, cordage, string, intertwining wool, silk, flax, cotton and discarded clothes, create intuitive threads for contemplative weaving. I spin, ravel, fray, unravel, pause, breathe, re-align, loop, weave, stitch, bind, repair, explore practise as metaphor for the ebb and flow of human experience. Interested in the interconnection between self and the natural world.. coexisting and cobecoming, my dimensional artworks in yarn, weave and sculpture reflect qualities of light illuminating and casting shadow, textures regenerating, shifting form. I invite the viewer to touch, to bring into view the outside, to notice a shifting presence within.” Michelle has a playful, inquisitive approach to the art of spinning yarn and a natural inclination to push the boundaries of materiality in her art. She is sought for her unique ability to guide others to seek and deepen connections with their own creativity. Michelle welcomes enquires for private and corporate commissions, workshops, exhibitions and collaborations.