Michele Graff MacInnes is a contemporary pastoralist whose work reflects her passion for the changing moods and landscapes of the rural world. Her large and intensely colored canvases evoke a tactile and visceral response, absorbing the viewer not only in the subject matter but also in the tension between color and line.

As the child of working-class immigrant parents, Michele remained largely unaware of the professional art world until her late teens, when she was encouraged by an instructor to pursue her talents in art. She attended Maryland Institute, College of Art, in Baltimore, where she received her bachelor of fine arts degree in 1988. During her studies she was particularly inspired by artists such as Cassat, Van Gogh, and Cézanne. Since taking her degree she has raised three children. Today she works out of her studio in the nineteenth-century barn of her small farm near Rice Creek, Michigan.

Michele's art explores her emotional connection to the natural world, from the majestic contours of a summer sky to the angular intimacy and quirky particularity of domesticated animals. Qualities of motion and rest, line and color, animate and inanimate inspire her to make her subject matter both accessible and transcendent.

"I am not really caught up in the things painted as much as in the translucence of color, the carpentry of line," says Michele. Her studio environment finds its way into her work as well. "The smells and sounds of the barn, its peaceful solitude, fill my head and deepen my expression."

Michele is represented by Gallery 127 in Marshall, MI. She has participated in small group shows in south central Michigan, and her works are in private collections in Pennsylvania and Virginia and Michigan. For more information, contact Michele Graff MacInnes at (517)-629-5660.