Creativity in My DNA — Built, Sewn, Baked + Painted Into Me

Can you bake bread, sew a hem, build houses and paint a canvas all at once? Yeah, me neither. But I grew up surrounded by people who almost could. My grandfather built homes from the ground up. My grandmother baked and sewed, usually all in a single afternoon. My uncle painted larger-than-life portraits. Making wasn’t just something we did. It was woven into who we were. Creativity is stitched into me. It’s part of my DNA.

A Life in Layers: Art, Meaning + Visual Alchemy

I never set out with a tidy plan for a creative career, no gatekeeper, no art degree on the wall. Each chapter of my life taught me something I needed to learn and brought me to where I am now. My studio is my self-made art school and a safe place to experiment, to get it wrong and to find the magic in the mess.

I live in Charlotte, North Carolina, where I create mixed media paintings, collages and wearable pieces. My process is intuitive and layered, rooted in curiosity. Sometimes it’s canvas or wood, sometimes it’s scraps of paper or fabric, sometimes it’s a handful of words. Each part feeds the next, a conversation between what’s felt and what’s seen.

Over the years, I’ve explored many worlds — law, counseling, mediation, interior design. Each one taught me to see deeper, appreciate complexities, hold contradictions and stay open to what lives beneath the surface. I’ve always been drawn to the emotional undercurrents, the human experience and helping others make sense of their inner worlds, and how those inner landscapes shape the outer ones.

I hold a Master’s in Social Work from UNC–Chapel Hill and spent a decade in private practice. I’ve also worked as an interior designer and continue to explore the ways art, space and self-understanding intersect in my life and work. Each path has informed the others. They’re all part of something bigger. They’re all part of something bigger, an ongoing transformation. A path of healing. Of becoming. Of creating a life that feels true and whole.

For me, creativity is a kind of medicine… intuitive, embodied and deeply felt. Whether through visuals, environments or words, I see art as a way to find meaning, move through emotion and reconnect with our deeper selves.

The Beauty I Hope You See

My art is a mirror, a bridge and sometimes a map. It shows us the parts we hide and the parts we’re ready to find. It connects us to what’s raw and real. The things we don’t always say out loud, but still feel deep down. Sometimes it’s a way back to yourself when life feels messy or you feel a little lost. I’m not here for perfection or mass production. I’m drawn to the tension and contrast, the layers and scraps and small moments that make life feel alive.

If my work does anything for you, I hope it reminds you we’re all imperfect and unfinished. That beauty and meaning live in the cracks and edges. That you can see your world, and yourself, with softer, more graceful eyes. You’re still a work in progress, and you’re already a work of art.

Art That Travels, A Life That Evolves

I live with my husband Ladd, our three boys (my greatest teachers) and our French Bulldog. Most days you’ll find me layering paint, tearing paper, writing words, reading books, learning something new, rearranging furniture, planning our next adventure or getting delightfully lost in whatever wants to come through next.

I am shaped by a constellation of people including family, friends, teachers, therapists, artists, writers and the divine timing that always seems to guide me right when I need it most. I trust that something bigger is always at work, even when I don’t fully understand how.

No matter where you are, or where you’re headed, my art and words are here for you. Just like love, creativity knows no boundaries. Here’s to seeing the unseen, holding the imperfect, appreciating the beauty and making a little magic along the way.

✖ ✖,
Michel