I stole the Artist Spotlight Blog from Michelle Schenker. Yes, that’s right, I did. Some of you might have considered me morally upstanding, but it’s not true. 

Originally, this blog was in Q&A format –many of you probably remember those articles. Michelle was the blog coordinator who emailed people in congratulations, asked them questions, then formatted the posting on the website. It wasn’t until this past December that I took the blog over and made the blog into long-form articles. 

I talked to Michelle about the switch over multiple times. We both knew the blog had potential for more content, but ultimately, I stole it from her. I’m not sure she was ready to let it go. I hope she feels her sacrifice was not in vain, especially since I chose her as the Spotlighted Artist this month.

Michelle Schenker joined the Associated Artists of Winston-Salem, Inc. (AAWS) in 2022. Initially only a watercolor artist, Michelle has expanded into all mixed media forms and enjoys making journals, artist trading cards, watercolor landscapes, and more; there’s nothing she hasn’t at least dabbled in. 

“If it’s 2D visual art related, I’ve probably done it,” Michelle said with a smile. “My favorite thing about art is play. I just love being able to explore every day.”

Recently, Michelle’s art career has taken off. Most notably, she released her Art of Blossoming collection this March. A celebration of springtime, I saw some finished pieces firsthand in her studio. Of eleven pieces, a couple stuck out to me. One in particular is, Sun-Kissed Sunflowers, luxuriates with a textured, deep navy background. Yellow, orange, and green papers come together to create large bursts of flora. The depth of color from the different papers is exciting and makes the flowers come to life with dimension; they look like bright yellow fireworks lighting up a night sky. 

“I used the paper as paint,” she said. “The yellows, oranges, and whites are strategically placed to add highlights versus just flat pieces of paper.” 

This type of ‘painting’ with paper is a new technique for Michelle. Certainly, you can tell there’s more intentionality in this collection with the use of paper as a mode of creation rather than just texture or pattern. Another obvious difference is the larger scale; Michelle usually works in smaller-form mediums like cards, but many of the Art of Blossoming pieces feature larger canvases. This is purposeful, mostly because Michelle has been adopting orphaned canvases from stores like Art Shac and Reconsidered Goods as a step towards environmental consciousness. 

One piece in the collection, Be Here Now, features a small figure. Her Mother-In-law, she noted, hugging a dog as they look up at a flower. It’s quite emotional. The way her Mother-in-Law and dog sit in shadow under the shade of the bright pink flower is stark and complex in feeling despite its simplicity of form. Under the dog's chin, in tiny words, is the title –almost hidden– “Be Here Now.” With an inquisitive tilt of the head, viewers are reminded to be present and cherish every moment. My best guess? The flower represents an offering to those gone.

“Behind all the layers, I wrote ‘Be Here Now’ on the canvas, too,” Michelle said. “ It’s about being present instead of continuing to spiral about things that may or not come.” 

Michelle also recently started doing Art-O-Mat, which isn’t a huge money maker for her yet, but great for exposure. The art she’s submitting to the renovated cigarette machines -an empire that started in Winston but now stretches across America- is largely whimsical and colorful flowers and leaves. In addition, she is also Wiseman Brewing’s Artist of the Month for May.

Beyond these successes, however, one of the reasons I picked Michelle for the Spotlight Blog this month is because of a historic wallpaper project she just completed.

While Michelle sat with a friend in DC, the friend's phone pinged. It was a text from Heather Bien who was looking for an artist to recreate historic wallpaper she found while renovating an old 1895 row home. Bien found sections of blue, green, and cream wallpaper intact behind drywall, a brick hearth, and a section of tin ceiling. The wallpaper is likely not original to the home since it isn’t Victorian in nature, but still beautiful. It had to be recreated. 

The friend Michelle was sitting with, Sadie Cornelius, laughed. She is sitting right beside a watercolor artist, she told Bien. The trio talked about the project over the phone, analyzing pictures and making plans. It was serendipitous. 

“This project is a combination of all things I love,” Michelle said. “I grew up in Charlottesville, so I’ve been to places like Monticello, Ash Lawn, and the University of Virginia more times than I can count. Growing up around history, it’s always been important to me. My mom was also a realtor, and of course, I like watching HGTV.” 

Michelle recreated the design by splitting it into two panels, she said. It was more complicated than they all originally anticipated. Because of the nature of the pattern, watercolor was the best medium for recreation. However, no two watercolor marks are ever the same; water is difficult to control. Designing the pattern over and over, with precise consistency and repetition, was nearly impossible but of the utmost importance. Luckily, Cornelius is a graphic designer. Once Michelle completed the two sections of the pattern, Cornelius was able to digitally repeat the pattern to mirror the original wallpaper. 

“When I do commissions, I am very communicative, Michelle said about the process. “I shared sketches, first steps, color palettes, and more with Bien. Our level of communication was just right for the partnership."

The wallpaper is now placed in most rooms within the Airbnb on Capitol Hill. The digitized pattern is also available on SpoonFlower, a home decor online shop that specializes in wallpaper, fabric, and other decor. It was such a success, Michelle even bought a comforter of the pattern.

“With a brush and a delicate touch of paint, Michelle was able to perfectly capture the nuances of the block print,” Bien said via her blog. “Some sections are lighter, others are darker, and it mimics the softness of the original.” 

The other reason I picked Michelle for the blog is her total embrace of AAWS. Awarded the Bill Edwards Grant not once, but twice, she also taught a workshop with us, has taken countless workshops as a student, is on the Marketing Committee, attends the Monthly Artist Meet-Ups, exhibits regularly, and was recently chosen by Addren Doss for the Artist Spotlight Exhibition this past Autumn. 

"Artist Spotlight was my greatest achievement as an artist so far,” Michelle said. “That felt like the greatest validation of everything I’ve been doing. I can work in my studio all day and feel happy, but it’s a very different feeling to put your art out to the world, have the world see you, and appreciate your creations.” 

Michelle said Associated Artists has also brought her the confidence to keep exploring her art. The only thing she hasn’t done yet is serve on our Board… maybe she’ll get there someday soon (wink wink). 

“My first show ever was at Milton Rhodes with Associated Artists,” Michelle recalls. “I remember inviting everyone I know to that first show, and many of them showed up. I was just hiding in the corner. People would ask me to talk about my pieces, and I would come out of the corner, say one thing about the piece, and then run back. It was overwhelming at that first show, but now it’s uncomfortable in a good way.” 

Despite her exponential growth and years as an AAWS member, Michelle is a relatively new artist. She first began her art journey only two years before joining AAWS in 2020. She started art as an emotional outlet during the pandemic. Originally, she took classes called “Creative Catharsis” with Winston-Salem artist Beth Glover.

“It was almost like art therapy,” Michelle said. “Which, of course, was helpful at that time.” 

Now, her mixed-media art is largely inspired by nature mixed with a sense of playfulness, wonder, and imagination. I find that Michelle's zeal for life is mirrored in her art. As an artist, she's something like an elusive ray of sunshine as the sun is setting. When you have her attention, she bestows you with the most incredible insight. She has so much love for creativity that she’s often there one moment, then popping off to another adventure the next. If not a ray of afternoon light, I’d say a Yellow Warbler; bright, curious birds that hop from one branch to the next searching for bugs and life’s curiosities. They are energetic, engaging, loyal, and known for their sunny dispositions. 

In fact, when I was listening back to her interview, I noted how much we laughed together. Her laugh is so bright and clear, and I remember her sitting criss-crossed on a spinning desk chair while we talked. Sometimes, she even shifted and pulled one foot up into the chair. I wondered, later, if her love and success in the art world is because she taps so well into her inner child. 

“I was creative in a different way,” Schenker said about being a kid. “I was always coming up with some new enterprise. We had a ‘car wash business’, which I feel is pretty standard, but we would sell our car wash services around the neighborhood using my parents' water,” she laughed. “We also made dyes out of plants in our yard and sold them. It was little things like that.”

Michelle has kept this business-oriented mindset in her art career, too. Getting her MBA from Vanderbilt and working in Marketing for years, her background impacts everything about the way she markets her art, including social media, her organizational skills, the website, and more. 

“My prior career has been hugely, hugely helpful. I don’t know how people without a business background do it.”

Michelle still splits her time 50/50 between her job and art, a new development since last December. Previously, she was still working full-time for the online publishing company she co-founded with her husband while pursuing art on the side.

“I feel like I have space now,” she said about the change. “In the past, I felt like I had art-related tasks; ‘Oh, I need to enter this exhibition,’ and check it off a list. Now, I have more space to be inspired in nature, go to a museum, or even just read.” 

As a final note about Michelle, something that inspires me about her is a never-ceasing generosity to her community. This appears in so many ways. For one, it seems she’s always giving her art away or inviting you to experiment with her. As I mentioned before, she does a lot of Artist Trading Cards and also ships art around the nation, and internationally, for collaborative art projects. In fact, while in her studio, Michelle showed me a multimedia journal that she and an artist from Spain collaborated on. Small pieces of art made by artist friends all over the world hang from string and clothespins around the ceiling of her studio, too.

Michelle also uses her art for good. In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Michelle gave part of her profits from t-shirt sales to a Western North Carolina non-profit. She also raises money for the National Parks and green spaces from time to time. 

“Giving back is important,” Michelle said. “That’s the plain and simple of it.”

And it’s true, I think. We all need to give back, be brave, grab life, and wring from it all we can. As I think about Michelle, her exponential growth as an artist –one who cherishes her community, gives back, tries everything, and utilizes every resource available- I think about Dead Poets Society. I just watched it last week for the first time, you know, and I’m reminded of that scene where Robin Williams as Mr. Keating looks up at his students from where he’s gathered them in. 

With a sparkle in his eye and a finger pointed, he says, “No matter what anyone tells you, words and ideas can change the world…The human race is filled with passion -and business, law, and engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life- but poetry, beauty, romance, and love, these are what we stay alive for.” It’s true, isn’t it? Our businesses, our jobs may sustain us, but creativity, art, it keeps us alive. It keeps us growing. 

“The thing I love most about my art is looking at it when it’s done and thinking ‘I did that!’,” Michelle said. “There’s an awe that you can create. Sure, there are projects I’ve done for work where I’ve thought, that’s awesome. But at the end of the day, there’s a different feeling when it’s art fully of your own heart and hands.”

In the future, Michelle is planning an Art-O-Mat series featuring puppies called “Dog Park”. A lifelong love for her, she has two rescue dogs (one of which lounged on the floor near my feet during the interview) and served on the Forsyth Humane Society Board of Directors. 

She is also currently in the Delurk Gallery, Red Dog Gallery, and in an exhibition at the public library. Finally, Michelle is also currently working on a piece that she hopes to be selected to show in the Watercolor Society of North Carolina's annual exhibition. The piece is a watercolor replication of Sun-Kissed Sunflowers; it’ll be a treat when it’s finished. Michelle also wants to do the Ardmore Art Walk this Autumn. 

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For more information about Michelle, please visit her website at michelleschenker.com and @michelle.schenker.art on Instagram.