Michelle is Deaf, married, a mother of four Coda kids in college and HS. She is a RIT alumnus with a BFA, from CFAA ‘93, SVP ‘87. Owner of a small ~elle’s expressions, jewelry/arts business, on the side. She has worked for Deaf C.A.N. since ‘93 and has been teaching ASL since 1993 to present. Michelle is also a contracted Guest Lecturer for ASL workshops for K-12 ASL Teachers and works with Lutheran Liturgy Translation Team. She has participated in DAF’s ABE yearly art booths for 5 years, in Royal Oak with local and national Deaf artists. She has been featured twice in NTID’s FOCUS magazine as small biz owner and her work was showcased in Gallaudet’s Deaf Art: Broadening the Borders exhibit in 2019.
My glass art portrays one part of my artistic interests. I do unique wood carving pendants and earrings, with jewelry soldering and wire wrapping, explore different mediums like painting and with color pencils and water color pencils, artistic photography with my camera and iPhone. My artistic art expressions of hands and eyes is done in glass art that I hand cut to shape and design. All of my glass art works reflect my love of light’s interplay with and without the natural light reflections in the window or on the wall. I use glass of all types. Never store bought, but rather purchased from estate sales of upcycled vintage cups, plates, vases, saucers, and shards. Inspiration comes from my old Deaf church’s stained glass windows with the sun’s rays filtering through. I prefer ‘see through’ glass to represent the art. My arts are “jill-of-all-trades” expressing art for art and some of my works are De’VIA inspired ones in regards to ASL.
Click images for titles and specs of artworks.
