Michele Bonds
Medium: Mixed Media Studio Location: Artist Studios at 43-01 22nd Street - Studio# 453 43-01 22nd Street Email: michele@michelebonds.com Website:: www.michelebonds.com Artist Bio: Michele Bonds creates sculptural, abstract works that employ paper as their foundational material. By layering sheets of tightly stacked washi papers, hand-dyed papers, print catalogs, and papyrus, she builds the substantive core of her works, many of which contain up to 100 papers. The assembled pages are then cured and affixed to wood panels, creating a hardened surface that Bonds carves and digs into using dremels, trimmers, sanders, and other hand tools. The sloped cuts expose strata of paper edges to reveal paths of intentional and fortuitous colors and lines, the twisting linear routes expose hidden objects like rope, thread, beads, semi-precious stones, and ribbon embedded within the layers. While the works initially relay a purely abstract topography, Bonds's selection and order of placement for each component reflect formal, cultural, intuitive, and biographical connotations. Often her choice of materials originates from a specific geographical location and typifies a traditional practice of papermaking. Other compositions bear the subtle characteristics of a portrait--the shadowed outline of a waist and the raised curve of a hip; the dense, fiery tones of a passionate disposition; the reflective glint of a mirroring personality; or the fading pattern of a cherished fabric. Experimenting with the endless iterations of these layered collages allows her to embrace powerful dualities as well as highlight more subtle nuances, inviting all iterations of order and chance into the visual storytelling process. Bonds studied at The Art Students League, New York, and completed coursework at the School of Visual Arts, New York, the Galisteo Street Studio, Santa Fe, and the International Center of Photography, New York. Her work has been exhibited at The Art Students League and the 92nd Street Y Art Center. She received her MBA from Babson College and an undergraduate degree from Columbia University. She was raised in Northern California and currently lives and works in Queens, New York. Artist Statement: Paper has always fascinated me as I have a long history of working with fibers. As a child, my mother sewed our clothing and taught me to darn, stitch, and fashion different items. A textile's forgiving elements or its rigid structural properties contained equal potential for my imagination around their use and application. These informal beginnings inspired me to seek out coursework in textile sciences at a young age, giving me an alternate perspective on the inherent behaviors of these materials and ultimately turning my studies and attention toward paper, the central component of my artwork. My practice thus far has incorporated collage work, hand dying, marbling, papermaking methods, and carving techniques. The goal in the studio is to experiment with the fibers and see how they respond to the manipulation of my hands and tools, to honor their intrinsic characteristics and their cultural significance, and to see them in visual dialogue with the other elements as each layer is laid down. Sometimes the works highlight the process of research and aesthetics, other pieces reflect a more intuitive or personal relationship to an experience, a person, or a place. These studio decisions often connect to my own family's immigrant story, which is inextricably interwoven with cultures from Japan and Polynesia. I was told tales of these rich communities cooking and eating together, sharing ways to embed their customs and traditions into their new surroundings. These conversations opened up my world and taught me respect for the rituals and connections that make up the surface of daily life and to look for hidden clues and references. The work I make is, at its core, about the layered history contained in surfaces, and I continue to seek out what can be learned from these distinct, sometimes subtle, always impactful materials. All images and text copyright Michele Bonds