Michelle Davis Petelinz
Member Since November 2011
Artist Statement Mixed media artist Michelle Davis Petelinz has spent the past seven springs and summers alternately shivering and sweltering through outdoor juried art shows in the Southeast, including Artsplosure; The African American Cultural Festival of Raleigh and Wake County; Festival for the Eno; Artscape, Baltimore; Festival in the Park, Charlotte; and the National Black Theater Festival. And while she enjoys the challenge of choosing just the right outfits for the ever-changing climate, the chance to interact with her collectors is what she craves. During the ‘off seasons,’ her work has been featured in a one-woman show at the Sertoma Art Center, and at the Blake Street Gallery, both in Raleigh. She is Vice President of the Mixed Media Art Guild, and a member of the Visual Art Exchange.
Michelle says she became an artist at 7 years old when her father gave her a box of 64 Crayola crayons with the sharpener in the back. Once she opened it, inhaled that unmistakable aroma, and made her first marks with cornflower blue, she was hooked. Numerous art classes, empty crayon boxes and paint tubes later; she was graduated from Wellesley College with a B.A. in Art History, which she now uses to teach art part time in Raleigh Parks and Recreation programs and with Abrakadoodle.
Michelle was born on Long Island, NY, spent many years in the freezing climate of New England and is now happy to call usually more temperate Raleigh home.
