Michelle L. Ghisson

This recent body of work is driven by a constant examination and preservation of personal memories. My paintings describe these moments, the details of which are imparted in layers of paint.
I am interested how memories are preserved and how these recollections can and do sometimes form confusing or false memories. After the actual experience of an event, particularly very painful moments, our very existence relies often on changing and molding the memory into a more palatable or manageable one, something we can cope with better, understand and compartmentalize. As humans we have the unique ability to recall, preserve, (sometimes with great detail) complex memories. I consider these recollections as layers of information, each level imparting bits of knowledge crucial to our consciousness, our ability to cope and even as a means of understanding our own mortality.
For me, this information comes to the surface and either sticks or fades away to different levels of opacity. Many times, in remembering, I have personally buried the ugly and preserved the beautiful as a way of coping. I believe that I have created the same process in my art.

When I am painting, the progression of remembering a specific moment over and over aga...

Edinboro University, Erie, US, Painting,