Inviting curiosity and imagination
Michelle Harris loves creating works on canvas that feel suspended in time, where the story is left unfinished and viewer invited to decide what happens next. Her style can be quite Baroque in its irregularity as she often paints intuitively, never quite knowing where her brush will take her, allowing the work to evolve in the moment.
She paints for the joy of creating as well as the personal challenge of seeing whether she can achieve the image she imagines. Every painting is a journey of discovery. She has a deep appreciation of how art predates written history, yet has helped tell the stories of countless cultures throughout time.
Michelle sees art as a powerful form of intellectual and emotional communication, connecting people across generations and places. Painting has brought her into a wonderful community of like-minded people who share their creativity, knowledge, and passion for art.
A quote by New Zealand artist Tui McLauchlan (1915–2004) has always resonated with Michelle:
“An aspect of painting I find important is keeping the viewer guessing, not defining the line too definitely. Let the line be lost and found. Let the viewers have fun interpreting paintings as they wish.”
This is an approach she aspires to in her own work—creating paintings that invite curiosity, imagination, and personal interpretation rather than providing all the answers.
