We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Michelle Marcuse a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Michelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?

My workspace is where I am engaged in transforming and shaping my surroundings into something personal and meaningful. It reflects my values, interests, and impulses, and it empowers me.

Michelle, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, where, as a child, unsupervised outdoor play was the norm. Together with my brother, we built make-believe worlds from the overgrown natural environment all around us. Imaginary storytelling never left me.

Mixed media sculpture is my primary focus, I also fuel energy into drawings/prints, and Assemblage. These works, characterized by fragmented compositions–sometimes large and free-standing, and at times, small-scale and mounted on walls– still provide me with portals into worlds of fantasy and imaginary territories. They come into existence through random connections. I want to convey both harmony and a sense of structural strife, so they might appear to twist and turn, counterbalance in curious ways, or strike unlikely symmetries.

Material choices are inspired as much by those childhood experiences as by my more mature processing of the realities of society. Cardboard is something I gravitate towards along with other repurposed media – the stuff of consumer excess. I choose materials according to structural and compositional need, but also for their pliability and sensorial qualities. Even though I take for granted these everyday items, I am aware that I am part of their transition: their lineage from the earth to factory to commercial use, then discarded as waste, and finally into my hands where they will be made into abstractions.

I prefer to innovate rather than to master a technique and my work develops through exploration which is actually more of a restless inquiry. Sometimes it seems that there are too many different parts attempting to converse at the same time. Generally, I end up breaking sections of what I have built. This might seem counter productive to those that aren’t familiar with making art….paradoxically, the resulting chaos has a fertility of ideas that excites my senses and annihilates any thoughts of preciousness. It forces me to release my need to control and moves me forward in unexpected ways.

The remnants, together with my messy fingerprints, leave a visible layer of texture. In a world of conformity and factory-made items, I want to draw attention to hand work, to leave evidence of a human touch and to show vulnerabilities. I like this makeshift quality, it keeps my work in various states of becoming, never finite, and rather mutable like water and air.

I see my sculptures as multisensory objects filled with feelings, memories, illusions and aspects of places both real and imagined that have impacted me.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Creativity is messy and all over the place, which I’ve finally learned to embrace. When I’m starting something new, it can be difficult to still my thoughts, especially if I’m trying to pick between different projects. That’s usually when I find myself wandering into the kitchen for the umpteenth time — making a cup of tea is perfect when I’m avoiding decisions. Classic procrastination, right?

I have learned I simply have to show up. I do so in fits and starts. Eventually I cross an invisible line and I become focused and intuitive.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I use materials that are non-precious, free/cheap and plentiful, and I can work unhindered by costs. This freedom is vital to my creativity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.michellemarcuse.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelle.marcuse/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michellemarcuse

Image Credits

studio photo: Henry Bermudez
photo credit for artwork: John Carlano