Community Corner
Pastels, Passion, and No Turning Back
Holmdel artist Michelle Chen showcases her love of vibrant color, imagination in two art shows, April 9-13.
Holmdel artist Michelle Chen has been looking forward to this weekend for a long time.
Twelve acrylics and pastels will be featured in the juried Monmouth Festive of the Arts, Tinton Falls, which runs from April 9-13. She's excited to have been selected for this prestigious event for the third time.
But what's really making her smile is her first solo Spring Open House Show on Sunday, April 10 at her home studio and gallery.
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“I wanted to have a solo so that I could show the way my whole process goes,” said Chen. “I want to show how I see things, the whole of me because in other shows with a few pieces, you only see parts of me.”
With her own show, her evolution is on display, a deeply personal exploration of who she is as an artist.
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“Everything is out there,” she said.
Born in Taiwan, Chen came to the US in 1992. She always loved art as a child, spending hours drawing comic book characters and faces complete with make-up.
“My parents were very academically-oriented so we actually were cut off from art classes and music classes. We were pushed into study.”
Acquiescing to parental pressure, she majored in banking and financing in college, which still brings an immediate one-word reaction.
“Oy!” she shrieks with a laugh. “I was about to die, I hated it!”
A post-college career as a flight attendant gave her opportunity to travel. Down time during layovers exposed her to some of the world's greatest museums, theater, music, and diverse design aesthetics.
Once married to husband Albert Chu and living in Holmdel, she studied Interior Design at Parsons School of Design in New York City followed by work at Poliform and Boffi Studio, an Italian furniture and kitchen design firm. But with a new baby, the commute got to be too much.
A buried love of drawing began to reemerge between feedings and diapering and she began to sketch her daughter Allison, now 13. Her re-awakened passion for drawing led to classes at Thompson Park and a variety of teachers. Finally, says Chen, she “let Pandora out of the box” and her art took off.
“I felt liberated,” she said of her new artistic energy. “No turning back.”
Chen, who loves color, looks to nature for her inspiration, blending her affinity for landscapes with abstraction. When she talks about her work, words like harmony, balance, and imagination recur, searching for her authentic voice.
“I feel free when I'm doing landscapes and abstracts,” said Chen. “I like to spend time outdoors, almost like a meditation, looking, observing, completely soaking into that atmosphere.”
She prefers acrylics to oils. ("Oils take too long to dry and life is short,” she says.) But Chen's favorite medium is pastels, which allow her to combine vibrant color palettes with her first love of drawing in an expressive, controlled, and strategic placement of color and form.
Her Spring Open House Show features two new series of works.
In the “Horizon' series, her more traditional en plein air landscapes have evolved to imagined landscapes of the mind, filled with moody, evocative colors that capture a range of emotional notes.
Her “YC” series is based on the ancient Chinese philosophy of the Yi Ching – The Book of Change. Here she reproduces the Yi Ching calligraphy in acrylics and meditates on the meaning of the 64 characters, such as symbols for harmony, balance, life, family, and joy.
Recently, the "YC" series formed the visual backdrop in the show Collide-O-Scope in New York City. As contemporary musician Augustus Arnold performed selections from the work of avant garde composer John Cage, Chen's Yi Ching paintings were projected on a screen in the background.
Closer to home, Chen teaches children's art classes through the Monmouth County Park System. Recalling her early experiences, Chen encourages her own children to follow their artistic inclinations.
“My husband is the 'Tiger Dad',” said Chen with a laugh. “But I say let them have fun.”
Son Brian Chu, 10, is a budding comic book illustrator (like mother, like son) while daughter Allison is a dedicated ballerina.
“Who you really are always comes out,” she said.
For More Information:
Michelle Chen's Spring Open House Show will be held on Sunday, April 10 from 1-5 p.m. at her Holmdel studio. Please call 732-533-3611 for directions.
Chen's acrylics and pastels from her “Horizons” and “YC” series will be on display and for sale as well as her original jewelry.
