Michaela’s recent work combines the energetic immediacy of drawing with layered techniques traditionally used in oil painting, pastel and collage. Solitary woodland hikes and wetland kayaks in all kinds of weather provide endless opportunity for observation and inspiration. Found objects –both manmade and organic– shapes, random patterns, compelling color relationships as well as the play of light and shadow all serve as springboard for recent work.
Michaela has exhibited her paintings and drawings in galleries and juried shows throughout the United States since 1994. Her work has been featured and reviewed in various publications; including Vermont Arts and Living, Santa Fean Magazine and Pasatiempo and is included in public, corporate and private collections in North America and Europe.
Michaela lives and works in the foothills of Vermont’s Southern Green Mountains.
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SOLO & TWO PERSON EXHIBITS
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2019-20 Next Stage Arts Gallery, Putney, Vermont / November 14, 2019 – February 11, 2020 / “A Mind of Winter” / Solo Exhibit
2018-19….APX Building, Morristown, New Jersey / July 12, 2018 – October, 2019 / Keystone Art in Rotation / Solo Exhibit
2017……….West Branch Gallery, Stowe, Vermont / March 25 – June 17 / “Land Marks” / Two Person Exhibit
2016……….Burning Bush Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts / “Amphibious” / Solo Exhibit
2015……….The Crowell Gallery, Newfane, Vermont / July / “Liquid Forest” / Solo Exhibit..
2015……….Burning Bush Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts / “Forest Pools” / Solo Exhibit
2015……….Burning Bush Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts / January & February / Two Person Exhibit
2014……….Hooker Dunham Theater Building, Brattleboro, Vermont / “Who Robbed the Woods?†/ Solo Exhibit
2008……….Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, Vermont / Solo Exhibit
2007……….Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, Vermont / Solo Exhibit
2004……….Sizl Gallery, Chapel Hill, North Carolina / Solo Exhibit
2001……….Ventana Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico / Solo Exhibit
2000……….Hart Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts / Solo Exhibit
2000……….Ventana Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico / Two-Person Exhibit
1999……….Hart Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts / Solo Exhibit
1998……….Roth Fine Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota / Two-Person Exhibit
1997……….Hart Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts / Solo Exhibit
1995……….Landmark College, Putney, Vermont / Solo Exhibit
1994……….Marlboro College, Marlboro, Vermont / Solo Exhibit
SELECT GROUP EXHIBITS AND JURIED SHOWS
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2021 Bennington Museum, Bennington, Vermont: “Transient Beauty”, Curated by Jamie Franklin / Nov-Dec 2021
2016 West Branch Gallery, Stowe, Vermont: “Flight” / Juried Exhibit / April – June
2016….118 Elliot Gallery, Brattleboro, Vermont: “A Sense of Place”
2016….Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro VT / 18th Annual Auction & Exhibit for InSight Photography
2015….Burning Bush Gallery, Boston, MA: “Holiday Show” / December
2015….Burning Bush Gallery, Boston, MA: “Salon Sunday, SoWa Arts Event” / March
2014….Vermont Center for Photography, Brattleboro, VT: 16th Annual Auction & Exhibit for InSight Photography
2009-13..Emily Amy Gallery, Atlanta, GA, Gallery Artist
2008….Emily Amy Gallery, Atlanta, GA: “Abstraction”
2008….Soho Myriad, Atlanta, GA: “Pink”
2005-2007..Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, VT Juried Regional and National Exhibits / 2005 Juried National Exhibit, Juror: Janet Fish
2004-06..Sizl Gallery, Chapel Hill, NC, Gallery Artist, Group Exhibits
2003-04..Art at the Barn, VT, Invitational, Humane Society Benefit Exhibits
2000-2005….Dorset Gallery, Dorset, VT, Gallery Artist, Group Exhibits
2002 Making the Most of “I”, VT, Invitational Benefit Exhibit/Art Auction
2000 Robert Crowell Collection, Crowell Museum at Moore Free Library, Newfane, VT. Inaugural exhibit. ‘Postcard Home’ selected for the permanent collection.
1996-2001 Ventana Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM, Gallery Artist, Group Exhibits
1995-2001 Hart Gallery, Northampton, MA, Gallery Artist, Group Exhibits
1998-2000 Roth Fine Art, Minneapolis, MN, Gallery Artist, Group Exhibits
1999 “Convergence: Vermont”, National Juried Contemporary Art Exhibit. (Juror: Rachel Rosenfeld Lafo, Senior Curator, DeCordova Museum, MA)
1997-1998… “Stratton Arts Festival”, Stratton, Vermont, Juried Exhibit NE Artists. (Jurors: Carl Belz, Director, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University Donna Schneier, DS Fine Art, New York, NY Enid Sanford, artist, New York, NY)
SELECT COLLECTIONS:
Manchester Suites, Grand Hyatt Hotels, San Diego, California (11 works on paper / Rain in the Sand series)
Ritz Carlton Hotel, Atlanta, Georgia (5 original pastels / Ice Storm series)
The Robert Crowell Collection, Crowell Museum at Moore Free Library, Newfane, Vermont (‘Postcard Home’, oil on panel)
SELECT ONLINE PRESS / FEATURE ARTICLES / EXHIBITION REVIEWS:
“Harlow’s abstract oil and pastel renderings encapsulate a certain viscera; the observer feels the scratch of texture as if brushed by a wayward twig, and deciphers layers of hue presented in a blurred vision of heaven. Her abstract method belies and acute recognition of nature’s nuance, and points to a thematic strain: “In spring the layers of snow and ice slowly peel away with last year’s bleached remnants, revealing the fresh and the new. The peeling away of layers seems to be an ongoing process from season to season in Vermont, and it works as a metaphor for the human experience in my work as well”.
–Clara Rose Thornton
Manchester Journal, Christopher Faris, Solo Show Review, Southern Vermont Arts Center, 2007
“Emotional more than figurative concerns inspire the landscapes of Michaela Harlow, who depicts “places within” in oil on wood panels and paper, creating vistas which may or may not expressly exist in the outer world, but which speak eloquently to the inner self. The universal experience of relating to the natural world, the understanding that perception is as much, (if not more) a psychological and spiritual process as it is a physiological process, is central to her work. This is not to say that purely aesthetic considerations are not equally important to her, however. Her paintings are richly and beautifully colorful, delightfully and carefully executed explorations of the complex and wonderful nexus of both inner and outer vision”
–Christopher Faris