Artist Biography
Dr Michelle Cox graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours) from Sydney College of the Arts (SCA), studying in both Painting and Sculpture departments and studying honours in Sculpture.
Dr Michelle Cox is an intuitive artist with a child-like innocence to her art, a joy that is part of her work. She makes mixed-media sculptures using aluminium wire, found objects, sequins and beads of many different types including glass, semi-precious stones. She enjoys working with geometric shapes and incorporating positive psychology text into her art work, such as trophy's. She is inspired by history of decorative arts and costumes and was a dance kid, so grew up around dance costumes, featuring sequins.
After high school, she studied Architectural Design Principles and Architectural Structural Engineering for one year and travelled around Europe visiting major art museums and architectural sites. In Barcelona, she saw a room that was filled with an installation of beaded flowers, which really inspired her.
She spent a lot of time making hand-built pottery animals while studying her Bachelor of Science and PhD, and while a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Toronto. When she lived in the UK, she came across a wire sculpture animal course, at a really cool art centre near where she lived in Birmingham. She studied traditional painting and drawing with the Julian Ashton Art School, who boast Brett Whitely as a former student. This led to her application to study art at SCA.
After being a film buff and studying conceptual art at SCA, she started creating her video art using mini manifestos, setting herself experimental art/science challenges. She won a Verge Art Award for her video art and was selected for an SCA student exhibition at Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery.
She received an art commission at the University of Sydney decorating trees on campus with quirky hanging sculptures. More recently, she was commissioned to be part of the wonderful Dear Agnes art project, where she created a botanical art installation of Banksia flowers interspersed with curve-stitched geometric circular forms.
She presented a feminist video art project at gallery, now called blah. She showed a digital art project about Climate Change, exhibited at Off the Kerb Gallery and was part of the Melbourne Fringe Art festival. She was selected for a mentorship program as part of the Melbourne Fringe festival, where she was mentored by blah.