Two weeks ago, Michelle had asked somewhat timidly, if she could turn in a few pieces of her art to be published in Street Roots. Now, a week after her first artwork was published, I was waving to Michelle as she rode her bike up to the Street Roots’ office with a casual, buoyant, demeanor. Taking care to lock her bike up, she asked if we could brew a pot of coffee.
We sat down with our cups, and Michelle flashed her contagious smile as she opened up her sketchbook. She spoke about several of her pieces with common themes of mortality. But also explained “I also put different cultural influences: Asian-Indian design, Native American, and Chinese. They resonate with me. Street artists really inspire me to do more intricate things.” These influences can be seen in the pen and ink montage of faces above.
Michelle also draws inspiration from her daily adventures: “I wander all over the place, not just in the city but in the nature parks, go hiking. The environment and every day inspire me.”
Street artists inspire her current work and her time volunteering through Central City Concern’s Community Volunteer Corps program. The program has introduced her to different community influences, such as the Rebuilding Center. “I’d like to do more three-dimensional and installation type pieces. I am starting to meet people who can help me with that. It seems so organic. There are people there who know how to weld and work with metal. They have experience moving and hanging things, or experience with light. It’s really interesting the way people’s everyday knowledge can really help and be melded into this cool creative escape of ‘awesomeness.’”
Her smile and eyes continued to shine as she spoke of another community, Street Roots. “When I am selling papers, I always think about how there are so many other vendors out there and other newspapers and we are all out there at the same time. I feel this sense of camaraderie. For me, I feel like it has such a great community and does so many important things.
The paper has so many articles that are so well written and so thought out. How can you not read it? It’s really an awesome paper and it’s good to know what’s going on in your world.”
As Michelle closed her sketchbook, her relaxed excitement continued to shine at the prospect of contributing more art and being published: “Groovy,” she said.