“Sanctuary” is the title of my newest Advent art exhibit. The work will be on display at Monroe Community Church, Grand Rapids, MI from December 8, 2024 – February 20, 2025. These paintings explore the idea of “sanctuary” as God’s physical dwelling place in Mary, Mother of Jesus and in the church.
I am excited to announce an Italian architecture painting exhibit at the Schnormeier Gallery at Mt. Vernon University in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. This solo exhibit includes forty-five paintings, drawings and monotypes inspired by Italian architecture. There is a series of 10 new drawings and several new paintings from my most recent trip to Italy in 2023. The show will be on view from January 11 – March 15, 2024.
This summer I have been participating in a series of conversations about Art and Synodality. Sponsored by the Catholic Artist Connection, the conversations are in conjunction with the Catholic Church’s three year conversation on listening and walking together in its Synod on Synodality.
Since I recently began painting figures on metal leaf , I thought the “Red, White and Blue” exhibit would be a good moment to continue the challenge. In the drawings I leave the backgrond completely blank, allowing the lines to carry all of the expressive power of the figure. In a similar way, in the gold silhouettes I am using the gold for the negative space.
One of the miracles of creative collaboration is the momentum it creates, continuing to create new work beyond what was originally envisioned. After the model session, once my drawing was photographed and titled and shared, Olivia wrote this poem in response to the drawing.
Divine Dimensions Exhibit My figure drawings and architecture paintings will be featured in “Divine Dimensions”, a two-person exhibit at 20North Gallery in downtown Toledo from April – June 2019. The…
The group of yoga illustrations can be viewed at: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/33yogiillustrations/. A beautiful collection of artworks inspired by Katy Sainz’s Instagram feed, it really becomes an art exhibit, just like a group show in a gallery exhibit it is organized around a theme.
Art Exhibits Outside the Box From July 14 to August 9, 2017 my Mind-Body-Spirit Series will be on exhibit at The Art of Yoga Yoga Studio in Columbus, OH. This exhibit…
The exteriors of local churches shape the landscape of daily life-about-town, but their interiors have helped shape spiritual lives for centuries. In Europe, cavernous sacred spaces were built for throngs of religious activity, but now hold only shadows of those presences. The shapes of archways reaching towards heaven, the rhythm of dark and light passing through complex spaces inspire a sense of quiet awe and shadowy mystery.
These new paintings have become my own reflection on the work of rebuilding tradition. One commemorates the Basilica as it looked before the earthquake. The second depicts it in its currently ruined state. One painting was commissioned by a Catholic, the other by a Protestant, and so together they are a witness to the influence of the great Saint Benedict on Christian life.
Curated by Leslie Tane, there will be seven other artists participating in the exhibit entitled “Gaze” at ArtSpace Maynard in Maynard MA from April 6-29, 2016. Several of my…
This painting – one of the newer ones in my series of Figurative Paintings reflecting on the Virgin Mary – is on its way to the Kreft Arts Center at…
The Waltham Mills artists community where I have my studio has been hard at work for the last few months preparing for our 38th Annual Open Studios event which will…
This Friday, July 11 will be the opening for the Summer Juried Exhibit at White Stone Gallery in Philadelphia, PA. I am very excited to have my painting Pilgrimage: St….
Summer is on its way and that is time for painting outdoors! Beacon Hill Civic Association and Sloane Merrill Gallery are hosting a plein air event as a fundraiser for…
With spring officially here, and winter un-officially sticking around, “Inside Out[side]” is an appropriate exhibit title for this time of year. I have two paintings hanging in the show by…
I just wanted to post a few pictures from Open Studios a few weeks back. Waltham Mills Artists’ Association Open Studios happens every year when 70 artists in three buildings…
For the month of December my sacred architecture paintings will be on exhibit at IMAGINE: Northampton, a small, non-profit gallery and church in Northampton, MA. Northampton has a very active…
I’m very excited to have my work at Sloane Merrill Gallery on Beacon Hill in Boston as of this week! I will have two paintings in the winter small works…
Waltham Mills Artists’ Association Open Studios Saturday, November 2, 12-6 Sunday, November 3, 12-5 You are invited to our annual Open Studios event! Three buildings (two at 144 Moody Street…
As a part of Park Street Arts, my series of architectural interiors will be on view at Park Street Church in the heart of Boston until October 19, 2013. This exhibit of paintings and prints is entitled Pilgrimage. The one-point perspective which dominates the compositions implies a destination. Our lives here on earth are the journey to that destination, a pilgrimage journey towards God.
The Gallery at Barrington Center for the Arts is featuring the work of faculty and alumni at Gordon College this fall. I was honored to be included in such an impressive lineup of artists, including faculty members Bruce Herman, Tanja Butler, Jean Sbarra, Jim Zingarelli, and alumni Rosemary Scott-Fishburn, Ben MacAdam, Jon MacAdam, Bryn Gillette, Anthony Falcetta, and many others!
On display now at the Ashland Public Library is a series of my prints and paintings entitled Convergence. The title “Convergence” has two origins, and these two meanings themselves “converge” in the paintings. In part, “convergence” describes how, in ecclesiastical architecture in particular, celestial and terrestrial converge in built space.
This Annunciation transcription will be included in the exhibit Compassion: The Good Samaritan, opening at Adams ArtSpace, Harvard College, Cambridge this weekend.
The Annunciation is the moment when God comes to earth – when human and divine come together to become incarnate in Jesus, Savior of the world. The Incarnation, God’s greatest act of compassion.
Concordia College — New York in their Journey of Faith exhibit. This exhibit paired artists with churches in Bronxville, where the college is located, in order that the artist might create a work of art specifically in response to that space. I was pleased to be selected, and was paired with St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bronxville.
The Olympics are always an Event: even non-sports fans like me turn on their televisions to watch the grace, strength, speed and beauty of what the human body can accomplish. The passing of the torch leading up to the Olympics is also a moving part of the event; it is expressive of our human journey on this earth, of friendship across nations, and fraternity even in competition. I am excited to be included in a digital exhibit which will be released in tandem with the London Olympics.
Next time you’re out for a cocktail in Boston (because aren’t we all always out for cocktails in Boston??), stop for a drink at The Hawthorne. The lounge has just opened with one of my paintings displayed behind the bar! .
Just an update post-Open Studios — it was a great event – estimates are that we had about 2000 people in attendance, though I don’t think all of those came in to my studio! It was a long weekend, because I was also Planning Coordiantor leading up to the event, so I was concerned with a lot of the logistical details of the event.
Come visit more than 75 artists in three buildings the first weekend of November! I will be there with my studio door open.
I am really thrilled to be featured on Creative Catalyst Production’s featured artist page. I’ve discussed my process before in artist talks or in conversation, but many of the questions I had never fully fleshed out in writing.
This summer has been a wonderful summer for figurative art – both in my own work and in Boston! I have been regular attending a few figure drawing groups and really enjoying the opportunity to really engage with the figure outside the classroom. I have been so busy the last couple of years teaching my figure classes that I haven’t actually taken much opportunity.
The theme of the winter issue of Ruminate magazine was “Sound and Silence”, and I was pleased that two of my prints and one of my paintings were chosen to as a visual representation of the theme. Sojourners Magazine’s Julie Polter recently said Ruminate has “staked a claim in the publishing borderlands where grit and religious devotion”.
Summer is a time for water and blue sky — I have had some opportunities to make some small drawings, but also to hang an exhibit of my church interiors at a local venue. Prints, paintings, and drawings of my series of architectural interiors will be on exhibit during the month of July.
I just received my work back from my exhibit at Rivier College in Nashua, New Hampshire. Sr. Theresa Couture did a really beautiful job curating and hanging the show, and I was very privileged to be able to exhibit and speak there for the November-December…
I have begun two new paintings (and have two already in process) to work on this week in the chapel at Valparaiso University. The chapel at Valpo was built in 1959 and is a masterpiece of modern architecture — it is a landmark for the area.
Before leaving for Italy next week I have been very intensely preparing work for an Artist-in-Residency at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana.
© 2025 Michelle Arnold Paine.
