MICHELLE L ROBINSON
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STATEMENT

My work addresses the slow, quiet tragedies that happen just out of view. Absence, impermanence, and loss are deeply rooted in my projects as I explore psychological and physical spaces that are in a state of transition. I am searching for the elusive meaning of home, whether by revealing the uncanny within a domestic space or evoking solastalgic mourning over the destruction of our environment.

Photography is a foundational aspect of my practice and thinking, though the final work is often much transformed. I use a variety of technological and traditional methods of making in my work, ranging from 3D computer graphics to embroidery, often taking elements through repeated cycles of digital and analog intervention or remediation.


Photo courtesy of Shatto Gallery and @dianagrassroots
BIO

Michelle Robinson received her Bachelor of Environmental Design in 1991 from Texas A&M University and continued with graduate studies at Texas A&M’s program in Visualization, producing animated short films that were shown at the Walker Art Center, the Dallas Museum of Art, Imagina in Monaco, and The AFI National Video Festival. She completed her MFA in Visual Art at New Hampshire Institute of Art and exhibited her thesis work at the Sharon Arts Center in Peterborough, NH in 2019. She has had her work published in The Hand, Diffusion of Light, Precog, and Frames. She has exhibited her work in solo shows at LAUNCH LA, the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder, CO, The Wright Gallery at Texas A&M University, and the Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery at Coker University in NC. She has been awarded residencies with the Joshua Tree Center for Photographic Arts, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, PLAYA, and Oak Spring Garden Foundation. She has juried shows for the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art and Shoebox Projects, and is currently co-curating an exhibition about the Los Angeles River for summer of 2025 at Shatto Gallery.

She has also been an artist and supervisor with Walt Disney Animation Studios for 31 years, most recently serving as Head of Characters on the Oscar-winning Encanto. She has been a mentor in Disney’s Artist Development Program, taught computer lighting and texturing at the California Institute for the Arts, and is a regular visiting instructor at Texas A&M University. She was nominated for a VES award for Animated Character on Wreck-It-Ralph and was named an Outstanding Alumni for the College of Architecture, Texas A&M University, in 2013. She volunteers with several organizations and advisory boards, including Exhibitions Director for International Encaustic Artists, and is a member of the curatorial collective Monte Vista Projects in downtown Los Angeles.
​

CV

EDUCATION
2019    MFA Visual Art, New Hampshire Institute of Art, Merit Scholarship
1993    graduate studies in Visualization, Texas A&M University
1991    Bachelor of Environmental Design, Texas A&M University, cum laude, President’s Endowed Scholarship



RESIDENCIES
2024    Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Interdisciplinary Residency Fellow
2024    PLAYA Summerlake, Art and Science Awarded Residency
2023     Virginia Center for Creative Arts
2022
    Joshua Tree Center for Photographic Arts


HONORS
2022    Honorable Mention, Digital Manipulation and Collage, Julia Margaret Cameron Award
2022    Shortlisted, Belfast Photo Festival

2017   Juror Award, Sense of Place, Truro Center for the Arts
2016   Juror Award, Encaustic, A. Smith Gallery
2016   Juror Award, Photo Encaustic, Sage Gallery
2015   Juror Award, Buenaventura Open Encaustic Competition
2013   Outstanding Alumni, Texas A&M University College of Architecture
2013   VES awards nominee, Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph
2012    ArtSlant showcase winner, mixed media

SOLO/DUO EXHIBITIONS
2024    No Place, Launch LA, Los Angeles, CA
2024    Kenopsia,  Roswell Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2021    
You Are (Not) Here, Cecelia Coker Bell Art Gallery, Coker University, SC
             
You Are (Not) Here, Keystone Art Space Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2019    You Are (Not) Here, Sharon Arts Center, Peterborough, NH

2018    Transmission, Yavapai College Art Gallery, Prescott, AZ
2017    Transmission, Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, CO.
2015    
Transmission, Wright Gallery, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
2012    Employee Gallery, Disney Animation Studios

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND PUBLICATIONS
2024    Desert Forest,  MOAH, Lancaster (with accompanying book)
             Menagerie, VITA Arts Center, Ventura, CA

2023    Investigations: Zombie Forest, Intersect Palm Springs, CA
            Sequence, Touchstone Gallery, Washington DC
            Open Call, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA
            By Degrees: Art and our Changing Ecology, Huntington Beach Art Center, CA
            A Complexity of Joys, MAPSpace, Port Chester, NY
            Our River: City Floodplain, Shatto Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
            Cabinet of Curiosities, Yiwei Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2022    Dream House (a special publication in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Womanhouse)
             Indistinct Chatter, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
 
            Intimacies, MAPSpace, Port Chester, NY
             Made in California, Brea Gallery, CA
             Kipaipai Group show, Melissa Morgan Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
             12th Anniversary Show, A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
             Surrealism Now! Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA    
             Old Broads West, Roswell Space, Los Angeles, CA
             Make Plain, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
             CA 101, Redondo Beach, CA
             Resilience, Upstart Modern, Sausalito, CA

2021    Landscapes of Material and Mind,  A SciArt Exhibition at New York Hall of Science
            Horizon 2.0 at Shoebox Projects, LA (online)
2020    In Real Life, Keystone Art Space group show, Los Angeles, CA             
             Culture Of Contamination, December Issue, magazine of SciArt Initiative

2019    “Pixel Rot” (essay), PRECOG volume 5
             Tapped 9, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
2018    Response: Paired works by TAMU College of Architecture artists and their professors, Reynolds Gallery, TX
             On-Site In Sight, Curated by Sherman Finch, Jones Gallery, Houston, TX
             Photosynthesis, A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX 
​
             Keystone Art Space group show, Los Angeles, CA
2017    Strings Attached, Coastline Art Gallery, Newport Beach, CA
             Manmade, Curated by Shannon Currie-Holmes,  Brand Library Gallery, Glendale, CA
             Sense of Place, Juried by Patricia Miranda, Truro Center For the Arts, Truro, MA
             Keystone Art Space group show, Los Angeles, CA
             Chaffey Museum of Art, Ontario, CA, LAX WAX Art Member Show
2016    Little Boxes, Georgetown Arts Center, Georgetown, TX
             Places and Spaces, Sugar Mynt Gallery, South Pasadena, CA
             Art of Encaustic, Ventura Government Center Gallery, CA
             Keystone Art Space group show, Los Angeles, CA
             Photo Encaustic, Sage Gallery, Portland, OR
             Round 'em Up, SugarMynt Gallery, South Pasadena, CA
             5th Annual Encaustic Exhibition, Morpho Gallery, Chicago, IL
​             Encaustic, A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX
             Collective Dissent, Dab Art, Ventura, CA 
2015    LAND: Interactions, Keystone Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
             A Show of Hands, A1LabArts, Knoxville, TN
             Alternative Processes, Photoplace Gallery, VT, juried by Amy Holmes George 
             Fusion, Keystone Gallery, Los Angeles, CA curated by LAXWAX board
             Ode to a Bridge, Art Share-LA, CA, curated by Dale Youngman and Tanner Blackman
             FLUX, Chaffey Museum of Art, Ontario, CA, LAX WAX Art Member Show
             Another Way of Keeping a Diary, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, juried by David Limrite
             Encaustic Open, Buenaventura Gallery, juried by Pamela Smith Hudson
2014    Diffusion: A Matter of Light Annual
             Alternative Processes, The Center for Fine Art Photography, CO, juried by Christopher James
             Highway 2 - The Journey and the Destination, Modest Fly Gallery, Tujunga and Towns Burr Gallery, Burbank
             The Hand, Issue 5
             Layered, CAA member juried exhibition, West Gallery. CSUN
             The Hand, Issue 7
2013    The Hand, Issue 2
2012    Bits and Pieces, Linus Gallery. Pasadena
2011    Chain Letter, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1996    Elastic Light, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1994    National Gallery of Victoria film festival
             IMAGINA special session for student work, Monaco
             17th International Film Festival, Creteil, France
             Anima Mundi 94, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil
             AFI National Video Festival, AFI, Hollywood
1993    Vente Exhibition Hall, Fujita Corporation, Tokyo
             FISEA 93, Walker Art Center
             Dallas Video Festival, Dallas Museum of Art
             Images du Futur 93, Montreal
             SIGGRAPH small animation theater, Anaheim
             Montage 93, The New Images, Rochester, NY
             Florida Film Festival
             Fort Worth Main Street Arts Festival, Video Arts Competition


CURATORIAL/JUROR PROJECTS
2023                   Curator, A Thread in the Hollow, Katie Prock at Shoebox Projects
2022                    Juror, Telling Stories, Shoebox Projects

2021                    Juror, A Digital Art Salon, and Digital Shorts Film Festival, San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, CA
2015                    Co-curator, Fusion, Keystone Art Space Gallery
2015- present    Juror for emerging artist and project grant award committees for International Encaustic Artists
2014                    Juror, Gaming/Computer Graphics/Animation Track, Grace Hopper Celebration
1999                    Juror, Sketches and Applications Committee, SIGGRAPH


LECTURES, TALKS, AND PANELS
2022    Speaker, The Characters of Encanto, Disney Inspire Days
2022    Speaker, ENDS101, Texas A&M University
2022    Speaker, Hancock College
2022    Artist Talk, Landscapes of Material and Mind
2021    Artist Talk, Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery
2020    Artist Talk, The New School, NY
2017    Artist Talk, Dairy Arts Center, CO
2017    Speaker, SINFO
2016    Panelist, Zootropolis. London ACM Siggraph Chapter
2016    Panelist, Zootopia. Women in Animation
2016    Panelist, Disney Animation Technistas. Mill Valley Film Festival
2016    Speaker, Zoomania. FMX
2016    Speaker, From Armadillo to Zebra: Creating the Diverse Characters and World of “Zootopia.”  SIGGRAPH
2014    Panelist, An Evaluation of University Education as it Relates to the VFX, Animation, and Game Industries. SIGGRAPH 
2014    Panelist, Frozen: an Evening with the Filmmakers. Women in Animation
2014    Panelist, Other Educational Models, FMX 
2014    Presenter, Under the Hat: Walt Disney Studios, FMX
2013   Speaker, Women in STEM Program, Mirman School

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE AND OUTREACH
2008-Present           Visualization Industry Partners Advisory Board, Texas A&M University
2020-Present           Exhibitions Director, International Encaustic Artists
2019                          Co-Lead, Summer Internship Program, Disney Animation Studios
2019                          Mentor, New Leadership Mentorship Program, Disney Animation Studios
2019, -11, -09           Mentor, Disney Talent Development Program
2019, -15, -12, -09   Visiting Instructor, Summer Production Course, Texas A&M University
2018                         Mentor, Emerging Leadership Mentorship Program, Disney Animation Studios
2015-2020               Treasurer, International Encaustic Artists
2015-2019               Treasurer, LAX WAX Art (Los Angeles Chapter of IEA)

EXPERIENCE
2020- present         Head of Characters, Walt Disney Animation Studios
                                 Supervises look development, rigging, simulation, and modeling departments in animation production.
                                 Responsible for timeliness and quality of deliverables within budget to downstream departments. Liaises 
                                 with creative direction to ensure artistic standards are met for each character.
2011- 2020             Look Development Supervisor, Walt Disney Animation Studios
                                 Artistic supervision of a team of artists to create the look and groom for characters as determined by the particular aesthetic style of each                                     film. Develop production related R&D initiatives, participate in asset bidding and production scheduling, casting, and resource allocation.                                         Interface with downstream and upstream departments to assure delivery of needed elements.
1995 - 2011            Look Development Artist and Lighting Artist,  Walt Disney Animation Studios
                                 Texture painting, shader creation, and hair and fur grooming on characters and environments. 
2001-2002              Lecturer, California Institute of the Arts
                                 Graduate level course in lighting and texturing in the Experimental Animation program.
1993-1995              CG Assistant Animator, Walt Disney Animation Studios
                                 Generalist position: building models, animation rigs, setting up materials, and lighting shots.
1991-1993              Instructor of Record, Texas A&M University
                                 ENDS311, black and white darkroom photography.
1990-1991              Teaching Assistant, Texas A&M University
                                 Freshman architecture studio and advanced darkroom photography (zone system).

MEMBERSHIPS
College Art Association
Women's Caucus for the Arts
Textile Arts, LA
Los Angeles Art Association
International Encaustic Artists
Kipaipai Fellows
Monte Vista Projects




© COPYRIGHT  MICHELLE ROBINSON 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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