An Interview With Michelle Paterok

Michelle Paterok explores the profound connection between personal experience and visual representation. Her work delves into questions of subjective space, the passage of time, and the role of art in addressing environmental concerns. By focusing on the poetic moments of everyday life, Michelle seeks to capture the intangible qualities of human experience and translate them into tangible visual forms. Through her paintings, Paterok invites viewers to contemplate the complexities of the human condition and the delicate balance between the individual and the natural world.

Can you tell us a little bit about you?

I am an artist making paintings. I was born in Edmonton, Canada in 1994, and am now based in Montreal after a period living in Ontario where I pursued an MFA at Western University. I love painting, cooking, reading, walking, and cats.

How has your artistic style or approach changed over time?

When I was younger, I tended to work on a project basis, creating distinct bodies of work about a certain topic or theme. Over time, I have come to view my studio work instead as one overarching, life-long project—the paintings respond to my surroundings and the things I encounter in my daily life. They are always personal and the image is always grounded in something I have directly experienced.

How do you approach the challenge of expressing the passage of time in a static medium like painting?

I am drawn to seasonal imagery for this reason, and my recent paintings often include some kind of seasonal motif, whether it's snow, summer rain, falling leaves, or seasonal fruit. I am interested in how these subjects can imply time's passage as well as how the cyclical patterns of the natural world might act as a mirror for our own emotions and human experience. I think impermanent things have a special kind of beauty. I often work in a diptych or series format, creating multiple paintings of the same subject at different times. By doing this, I can create a loose kind of narrative by changing the quality of light.

What role does memory play in your exploration of spatial experiences?

Although my painted subjects are usually familiar and recognisable, I am not interested in making strictly realistic images. Through painting, I try to explore how I process my environment subjectively, and these subjective experiences are always filtered through memory. When we remember something we've seen and experienced, it likely isn't a detailed, photographic image: it's often the essence of the subject, its most essential qualities, and it often invokes our other senses—how cold it was, how the wind felt, how the sea smelled, how we were feeling when we experienced it—things like that. When I paint something I experienced, I try to use the medium to create an atmosphere that evokes these things.

What draws you to the poetics of small gestures and encounters in daily life?

Sometimes I think being an artist is as much a vocation as it is a way of existing in the world. In my own life, I have always seemed to have a radar for small magical things, which I'm not able to turn off. Maybe it is a form of childlike curiosity that stubbornly persisted into adulthood. I have a memory of being a kid and noticing the way the dust floating in the air in the house sparkles in the sunlight, being totally enamoured with it. I can't help but notice things like that. My partner laughs at me because we can't walk anywhere without me stopping and snapping pictures of very banal things like utility poles and leaves on the sidewalk.

What are the biggest challenges you face as an artist?

The administrative side of the profession. The idea of being an artist seemed romantic before: how nice and how fun it must be to paint all the time. I am very grateful to paint all the time, but nobody warns you how much of your time will be eaten up by writing grants and proposals (most of which will inevitably be rejected) and other various logistics necessary to keep a studio afloat. Time management, organization, and discipline are all things I'm always working on.

Your earliest memory of art?

My aunt is an art lover and took me to local galleries all the time when I was young. We would spend awesome weekends together looking at paintings in Edmonton, and she introduced me to some of the commercial gallerists. This implicitly showed me that it was possible to be a working artist. When I entered high school, for my birthday she bought me a membership to the Art Gallery of Alberta, the biggest public gallery in the area. I spent countless hours in there.

Who are the artists or creators who have had the greatest impact on your work?

The contemporary printmaker Tetsuya Noda is a big influence. He has been working on a diary series of prints since he started his career in the late 1960s. I was introduced to his work as an undergraduate student at the University of Alberta, where he had prints in the university's collection, and later saw a retrospective of his prints at the British Museum in 2014. I love his technique, his use of historical mediums in a contemporary way, and the way that his work melds his life and his art together. As for painters, there are too many to name. Sky Glabush, who was my MFA supervisor, is a great influence to me, and I am grateful I had the chance to study with him.

What is your favourite book or film and why?

My favourite book is The Master and Margarita. It's funny, tragic, and profound at the same time. I love the blend of realism and magic (which is always something I'm trying to do in my paintings, too), and I tend to love books about artists (in this case, a writer) and their lives. There is also a talking black cat, who is my favourite character.

Are you working on any new projects you are particularly excited about?

I am excited to have some new work in a group show at SHRINE in New York City opening on October 25, as well as a group show at Duran Contemporain in Montreal in November. In February, I'll be an artist in residence for the month at the Pouch Cove Foundation in Newfoundland, which I am so looking forward to.

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