Hello! My name is Mikaela.
My encaustic art explores several themes – mind, line as portrait, and environment.
Mind pervades my entire body-of-work which seeks to represent the inner workings of the self, visualizing the invisible. I explore emotions and mental health through lines and abstract color fields.
Line represents the individual within a particular moment of being, while abstraction allows the viewer to find their own resonance, connection, and meaning to the art and the inner workings it represents. After all, each of us experiences the world, rationalizes, and responds to it in our own unique way.
An important part of my artistic process is mindfulness towards the environment. Using up-cycled and sustainable materials, my work addresses our climate upon which much of our well-being depends.
I hope my art can act as a catalyst for larger conversations about mental health and the influences the world around us has on our internal state of being, and vice versa.
EDUCATION
University of Denver - MA Art History
University of Denver - BA Studio Art
EXHIBITIONS
Small Works, Juried Exhibition, New Mexico Art Legue, Albuquerque, NM (12/2023-1/2024)
Affordable Arts, Juried Exhibition, Fuller Art Center, Los Alamos, NM (11/2023 - 12/2023)
Hot Hot Hot, Solo Exhibition, Studio508, Belen, NM (09/2023)
Portraits, Juried Exhibition, New Mexico Art Legue, Albuquerque, NM (06/2023)
Circles, Open Exhibition, Tortuga Gallery, Albuquerque, NM (05/2023)
From the Garden, Juried Exhibition, New Mexico Art Legue, Albuquerque, NM (04/2023)
New Mexico Impressions, Juried Exhibition, Manzano Mountain Art Council, Mountainair, NM (09/2022-11/2022)
Recycled Santa Fe Art Festival, Juried Exhibition, Santa Fe Convention Center, Santa Fe, NM (11/2022)
True Colors, Juried Exhibition, Fuller Art Center, Los Alamos, NM (06/2022-07/2022)
Transformations 2022, Open Exhibition, Tortuga Gallery, Albuquerque, NM (05/2022)
2022 Women's Show, Juried Exhibition, Ghostwolf Gallery, Albuquerque, NM (03/2022)
Water is Life/Agua es Vida, Open Exhibition, Tortuga Galley, Albuquerque, NM (03/2022)
The Conform Project, Juried Exhibition, Los Lunas Museum of Heritage and Arts Facebook Page, Los Lunas, NM (05/2020-06/2020)
The Eleventh Annual Peoples Art Show, Open Exhibition, 5 Gallery at the Factory on 5th Art Space Albuquerque, NM (02/2020)
Land of Enchantment, Solo Exhibition, Anderson Academic Commons, Denver, CO (05/2017 - 06/2017)
Somatosensory, Exhibition by Invite, University of Denver Professional Practices, Denver, CO (11/2016)
Juried Student Art Exhibition, University of Denver, Denver, CO (05/2016 - 06/2016)
Emerging Print, A Student Exhibition, Exhibition by Invite, Art Gym, Denver, CO (04/2016 - 05/2016)
Planting the Seeds: Pedagogy in Print, Exhibition by Invite, The Corner Gallery, Lakewood, CO (03/2016)
