Artist's Statement
My most recent definition of art: Medicine to counter despair. Producing works of beauty or emotional power which can move others into action. To uplift others towards a common good.
Land Art, in-situ installation, performance, drawing, painting: My art weaves into its' fabric something bigger than object: Experience. I invite the public to participate in something natural, impermanent, to re-invigorate our sense of belonging. I work to collaborate with forces greater than me, to eclipse cynicism, to take responsibility for the places we find ourselves in. As a practicing visual artist, I assemble into my projects social life (and energies) not yet recognized as art. I extend my creations beyond sole-authorship, into co-authorship.
Whether living tapestry, multi-year Land Art project or electronic book made to be re-mixed, my projects embody the living processes and traces of material as social practice. I experiment with ways of working that feed the commons, transform spectators into participants, and extend artistic production beyond rarefied spaces — into social, political and environmental action. I am concerned with the living systems of our world, both our cities and villages — natural, cultural, civic — especially as they relate to municipal power, politics, and decisions that impact urban/rural development, ecology, and land use.
Whether living tapestry, multi-year Land Art project or electronic book made to be re-mixed, my projects embody the living processes and traces of material as social practice. I experiment with ways of working that feed the commons, transform spectators into participants, and extend artistic production beyond rarefied spaces — into social, political and environmental action. I am concerned with the living systems of our world, both our cities and villages — natural, cultural, civic — especially as they relate to municipal power, politics, and decisions that impact urban/rural development, ecology, and land use.
Biography
Emily Rose Michaud is an interdisciplinary artist and educator working at the crossroads of community organization, ecology and civic participation. Her work highlights the social importance of marginal landscapes, engages with soil as a living entity, and maintains a practice in ephemeral media. Her body of work encompasses Land Art, installation, drawing, writing, performance, and intervention. In recent years, her environmentally and socially driven approach has resulted in a series of in-situ art projects, speaking engagements, community activist art projects, performances and publications. She has exhibited nationally, both in and out of the gallery and has attracted international media attention for her Roerich Garden Project in Montreal.
Based in Montreal since 2000, Michaud has collaborated with architects, gardeners, activists, politicians, and children. In 2009, she co-founded Les Amis du Champ des Possibles, a citizen-run non-profit that demonstrates and advocates for the cultural, ecological, and social importance of wild urban spaces. Her ongoing encounters in art and the natural world tie her to the bio-regions of Outaouais in Western Québec and Montréal.
Michaud's academic outreach can be found in her contributions as editor and writer: she is the creative director and co-editor of The Roerich Garden open book project, roerichproject.artefati.ca (2008-2011) and has contributed essays and content to anthologies including DIY Citizenship: Critical Making and Social Media, MIT Press (2014), and Thinking With Water, McGill-Queen's University Press (2013).
Emily Rose Michaud holds a BFA from Concordia University (Montreal) and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Education in Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa. She lives in Gatineau.
August 5, 2014.
