Michael Anne Erlewine
Artwork
About Michael Ann Erlewine
Michael Anne first studied art with her paternal grandmother, Phyllis Anne Erlewine, a professional artist who fostered her granddaughter's creativity thus empowering her as an artist. Michael Anne studied art at the University of Michigan and Naropa University. She received a grant to teach young artists mural painting in the City of Big Rapids, MI. She had a solo show in Ann Arbor at the Michigan Guild Gallery and received the Golden Paintbrush Award for public art in the City of Ann Arbor. Michael Anne learned batik painting from her grandmother when she was eight years old and having saved her grandmother's batik supplies when she died, is currently working on a series of batik paintings in her honor as a way to move through grief, connect with her ancestry and continue the lineage of her grandmother's medium.
What has it been like to work on Dear Woman House?
What surprised me, once I finally finished my installation and walked around the house for the first time all alone, was the magnitude of the work these women created for this show. The meaning of my work changed as I observed how people responded to it in relation to the exhibit as a whole. In this show there was some profoundly deep, absolutely necessary, yet triggering work particularly in the 'Unspeakable Room' and even though I intentionally created a safe space for women in my installation 'Sacred Space' I never anticipated the recurrent feedback that my installation served as a grounding space for the assimilation of the work viewed within the collective space. That was both a surprise and an honor.
michaelanne.erlewine@gmail.com