There is no reason to ever lack inspiration in this world
“Art is a tributary that runs deeply through the great creative current of humanity.
The process of sculpture in clay, with its slow beginning, heavy physicality, and transformation through both water and fire, is compelling. The process of painting moves at a different cadence and improvisation rules. Overall, intuitive logic presides in a process-oriented practice. The long conversation between artist and material takes many courses—a wandering dialogue.
Water acts as an important medium for color development on fired clay as well as on canvas and paper. It pools, and drips to follow contours; it dries slowly and reveals a beautiful life of its own.
Where the confluence of abstraction and figuration meet, relationships between figure and ground are explored. My intention is to articulate something of the precious resource that animates and surrounds us.”
—MICHELLE GREGOR
Art Practice
Considered a leading figure in the second generation of Bay Area Figuration, Gregor is a multifaceted artist who works in clay, bronze, paint and drawing media, handling each medium with a process-oriented and intuitive approach that results in painterly forms and images.
Gregor’s forms apply the free, intuitive impulses of Abstract Expressionism to figurative representation. Her pieces range in dimension from a few inches tall to architectural-scale bronzes, but are unified in their sense of calm, mass and balance, simultaneously suggesting motion and repose.
Sculpture
Colorful, abstracted figures are revelations of beauty that manifest in myriad ways, unified in their sense of calm, mass and balance, simultaneously suggesting motion and repose, reminiscent of sculpture by predecessors Manuel Neri and Stephen De Staebler.
Painting and Drawing
Reflections upon in-progress figurative sculpture currently in the studio, Gregor utilizes a dazzling array of media, from gouache to acrylic paint, watercolors to graphite, transfers to inks, fountain pens to collage.
“Something about these mysterious women (and they are all women, in the artist’s recent work) suggests sirens or visionary travelers; angels, or goddesses—the kind of subjects favored by the ancient Greek sculptors Gregor admires.”
"Avatars and Angels," Essay. Michelle Gregor, 2013
“Gregor’s sculptures have the fluidity of a good painting and she has managed to integrate the impressionistic painting style as she captures a similar color palette to painters like Monet and Cézanne.”
Travel and a passion for museums and art history have pushed Gregor’s work into ever-changing territories throughout her career.
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Q:
What’s your favorite place to see art?
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A:
The Louvre. I love Paris and the Louvre. Card-carrying member. That’s for old art. For contemporary art, the Venice Biennale.
My favorite city is Paris.
Dining table at chez Rodin, Muedon
Paris is heaven for a sculptor.
Endless columns, endless joy
“Michelle Gregor is a neoclassic ceramics sculptor with a contemporary flavor, inspired by the urban diversity of the San Francisco Bay Area and informed by previous travel to Bali and southeast Asia. The profiles of her lovely early works show kinship with Gandhara stone temple figures of the 4th century.”
"Transcendent", Exhibition Review. Ceramics Art and Perception, No.88 2012
Got a question?
Ask away. I love to chat with art collectors, galleries and curators about my sculpture and painting practice, teaching and the growing field of contemporary ceramics.
Biography
Through the vehicle of the figure, Gregor’s intention is to articulate something of the precious source that animates us. Deeply inspired by artists of all kinds, notably Abstract Expressionists Joan Mitchell and Lee Krasner, abstraction has limitless potential to describe emotional and spiritual states.
Studio
Gregor acknowledges that between projects she often wonders, “Will I ever do anything good again?” When she begins a new work in the studio she is guided entirely by her intuition and her excitement about creating something new.
Curriculum Vitae
One of the highlights of my life was the opportunity to exhibit my work next to my hero, Stephen De Staebler’s.