Mary Michel was born in 1921 in Clear Lake, Wisconsin and worked as a fine artist and arts
educator in Ventura, California for over 50 years. Known for her bold yet delicate paintings and
serigraphs, her signature style was an elegant and refined technique and strong sense of design
and color.
Her formal education began at the University of Minnesota where she studied fashion design and
advertising. The Michel family visited Ventura in 1954 and shortly after made the seaside
community their home.
Mary Michel completed her education in the arts at the University of California at Santa Barbara
and the California Lutheran University. A tremendous asset to the community, Mary volunteered
her fine art talents, design skills, artwork and support to help numerous non-profit organizations
such as the National Charity League, the Cancer Society, and Project Understanding, to name only
a few. She was instrumental in organizing the annual art auction for the Ventura Boys and Girls
Club and was founder of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters’ annual Concours d’art auction.
A teacher at Ventura College for twenty years, Mary Michel built a career on discipline, hard work
and dedication to the community. Her work can be found in many public and private collections
and in the municipal collection of the City of San Buenaventura.
We are in process of documenting and recording paintings and serigraph prints done by our
mother, Mary Michel. If you have art by her, please contact Chris Michel, or send photographs of
the art you have to chrismichel@wildblue.net 503 324 8635. thanks! |
