Michelle Goodman

I have lived in New Mexico, USA for nearly thirty years working as mixed media artist, graphic designer and decorative painter.

In my artwork I use endpapers from discarded books, found images, paint and pencil for collage. These materials have powers and energies of their own. A quickening takes place when I keep a light hand and restrain myself from becoming proprietary. Everything can be included: poetry, the news, or a preverbal response to bodily sensations. There is a natural flow, ranging from abstraction and patterning to allusions and narrative.
A twenty-year meditation practice has taught me to trust and respect these phenomena. The practice of meditation makes me acutely aware that life is in constant flux. Continual change feels chaotic but there are domineering influences present in the world today that are scarier than disorder or change. Commerce, violence, speed, and disregard for the environment are critically threatening forces. Putting pencil to paper is an act of soothing. Self-soothing is a practice of balance in the face of dire conditions. Beyond practicing balance there is an important process occurring in my interactions with material and subject. Loosened from psychological/social constructs, I ...

My education has taken place in relation to other artists. They have mentored and befriended me, supporting my work in deep and practical ways. Our conversations have ranged over the formal life of my artwork as well as the implications. It is my good fortune that these exchanges have happened naturally over my lifetime.


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