Michelle
Caron-Pawlowsky
Contact: michellepawlowsky@gmail.com
Michelle Caron-Pawlowsky is a multidisciplinary artist from Montreal, Canada who primarily works with images. Michelle graduated in 2022 with a BFA in Studio Arts in the Photography program at Concordia University in Montreal, where she has received a number of grants to pursue art projects. She has exhibited her work in Canada and the United States, and has most recently shown her work in the fourth edition of Artch, with Projet Tabloïde’s public billboard project, and as part of a large-scale architectural projection with Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles. In 2021, they were an artist in residence with Art Souterrain’s Créer des Ponts and an Emerging Artist in Residence at Franconia Sculpture Park in Minnesota. They are the co-founder and co-director of Colure Collective, a group working to create exhibition and publication opportunities for emerging artists in Quebec. Colure’s first publication, In Continuum, was released this year.
Michelle’s work draws on individual and collective histories as a point of departure. Centering on the mutable and vulnerable nature of memory, she is especially interested in long-term processes of healing, the sentimental value we ascribe to objects and collections, and an ongoing reconsideration of our relationships with nature. Using a multidisciplinary, installation-based approach that often combines photography, alternative printing processes, textiles, and natural materials, they work with layers and transparencies to consider acts of recollection and movement through time. With her recent work, she has been experimenting with pushing the boundaries of photographic presentation through sculptural, image-based installations. Michelle informs her practice through research into subjects such as queer ecology, environmental studies, and psychological memory studies.
Michelle Caron-Pawlowsky est une artiste multidisciplinaire de Montréal qui travaille principalement avec des images. Michelle a gradué en 2022 avec un baccalauréat en arts visuels dans le programme de photographie de l'Université Concordia à Montréal. Elle a exposé au Canada et aux États-Unis et a récemment présenté son travail dans le cadre de la quatrième édition d'Artch : Art contemporain émergent, avec le projet d'affichage public du Projet Tabloïde et dans le cadre d'une projection architecturale à grande échelle avec le Quartier des Spectacles de Montréal. En 2021, elle a été artiste en résidence avec le projet Créer des Ponts d'Art Souterrain et artiste émergente en résidence au Parc de sculpture Franconia au Minnesota. Elle est cofondatrice et codirectrice du collectif Colure, un groupe qui travaille à créer des opportunités d'exposition et de publication pour les artistes émergents au Québec. La première publication de Colure, In Continuum, est sortie cette année.
Le travail de Michelle s'inspire des histoires individuelles et collectives comme point de départ. Centré sur la nature mutable et vulnérable de la mémoire, elle s'intéresse particulièrement aux processus de guérison à long terme, à la valeur sentimentale que nous attribuons aux objets et aux collections, et à la reconsidération de nos relations avec la nature. Utilisant une approche multidisciplinaire qui combine souvent l’installation, la photographie, des procédés d'impression alternatifs, des textiles et des matériaux naturels, elle travaille avec des couches et des transparences pour considérer les actes de remémoration et le mouvement à travers le temps. Dans ses travaux récents, elle cherche à repousser les limites de la présentation de la photographie par le biais d'installations photographiques sculpturales. Michelle alimente sa pratique de recherches sur des sujets tels que l'écologie queer, les études environnementales et les études psychologiques de la mémoire.
Education
2022 BFA in Studio Arts, Major in Photography, Minor in Sustainability Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, QC
2016 DEC in Visual Arts, Certificate of Women and Gender Studies, John Abbott College, Montreal, QC
Duo Exhibitions
2021 Here We Lay in a Beam of Bright Light, Our Hands Buried Deep in the Earth with Florence Pin, Espace Wednesday, Montreal, QC
2021 Créer des Ponts with Florence Pin, Espace Wednesday, Montreal, QC
Group Exhibitions
2022 In Continuum, Colure Collective, Ada X, Montreal, QC
2022 Object Talk, Atelier Retailles, Art Matters Festival, Montreal, QC
2022 The Cake Stand Biennale, David W. Mullins Library, Arkansas, USA
2022 Things We Know, Things We Don't, Art Matters Festival, GalerieERGA, Montreal, QC
2022 Mélange, AZ Gallery, Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA
2022 The 2022 Collection, Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Pointe Claire, QC
2021 Altar for Thismia Americana, public art installation, Franconia Sculpture Park, Minnesota, USA
2021 Les liens futurs, Art Souterrain, Montreal, QC
2021 Artch: Art contemporain émergent, Dorchester Square, Montreal, QC
2021 Projet Tabloïde, public art billboard, Montreal, QC
2021 Hereafter, architectural projection, Quartier des spectacles x CPC, Montreal, QC
2020 Absence of Another, VAV Gallery, Montreal, QC (online due to COVID-19)
2020 Le Salon Virtuel, VAV Gallery, Montreal, QC (online due to COVID-19)
2021 I Believe in Love, Le Cagibi, Montreal, QC
2018 Dreamstate, Espace POP, Montreal, QC
2018 Traces of Process, Glass Door Gallery, Montreal, QC
2017 C-O-N-S-E-N-T: What It Means to Me - Bishop's University Community Art Lab, Sherbrooke, QC
Residencies
2022 (Forthcoming) Résidence de création, Maison Photo Montréal, Montréal, QC
2021 Emerging Artist Residency, Franconia Sculpture Park, Minnesota, USA
2021 Créer des ponts, Art Souterrain, Montréal, QC
Awards and Grants
2022 Individual Special Project Grant, Fine Arts Student Alliance, Concordia University
2021 Production Grant, Artch: Art contemporain émergent
2021 Cultural Grant, City of Beaconsfield
2021 Third Place, Open Theme Category, 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award
2021 Honorable Mention, Self Portrait Category, 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award
2021 Honorable Mention, Still Life Category, 16th Julia Margaret Cameron Award
2021 Special Project Funding, Concordia Council on Student Life
2021 Community Contribution Special Project Grant, Fine Arts Student Alliance, Concordia University
2020 Second Place, Open Theme Category, Fine Art Photography Awards
2020 Nominee, Portrait Category, Fine Art Photography Awards
2020 Special Project Funding, Concordia Council on Student Life, Concordia University
2019 Group Special Project Grant, Fine Arts Student Alliance, Concordia University
2018 Individual Special Project Grant, Fine Arts Student Alliance, Concordia University
2018 Group Special Project Grant, Fine Arts Student Alliance, Concordia University
Bibliography
2021 (Forthcoming) Object Talk, Art Matters
2021 Erasing Hierarchies: Michelle Caron-Pawlowsky on Queer Ecology as Art, Cheng Huai, Montreal, QC
2021 Artch expose 22 jeunes artistes, La Presse, Montreal, QC
2021 Art Hole Magazine, Issue 12
2021 Stonecoast Review, Issue 14
2021 Mariposa Magazine, Issue 2
2020 CYCLES, Concordia Queer Print Club
2016 Shabby Doll House (1) (2)
Publications
2022 In Continuum, Colure Collective
Collections
Stewart Hall Art Gallery (2022 Collection)
John Abbott College