Statement
My paintings begin with intuition. I work with color, gesture, and organic form, allowing each composition to develop through a continual exchange between intention and improvisation. Paint is poured, brushed, scraped, layered, and sometimes removed as I respond to what is happening on the surface. Bold areas of color meet quieter sections, while spontaneous marks are balanced by moments of structure and restraint.
The act of painting allows me to explore feelings, memories, and impressions that are difficult to express in words. At times, the work carries traces of a particular landscape or experience; at others, it emerges entirely from the energy and rhythm of the moment.
Bio
Michele de la Menardiere is an abstract painter based in San Francisco, California.
She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, and her paintings are held in private, public, and corporate collections worldwide, including the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Nokia, and the Ritz-Carlton. Her work was acquired by the U.S. State Department’s Art in Embassies Program for the permanent collection at the U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. She has also created a site-specific public art installation for the Hyatt Regency in Crystal City, Virginia. Her paintings have been featured in The Washington Post, incorporated into interior design projects with Sotheby’s, and showcased on the set of KQED’s Check, Please! Bay Area.
Michele earned her degree from the Chelsea College of Arts in London, England.
Art in Embassies Program
2009: Ouagadougou Embassy, Burkina Faso
2004: Pristina Consolate, Kosovo
2003: US Embassy in Algiers, Algeria
Public Art Projects
2015 Superbowl 50 Artwalk, San Francisco, CA
Art Walls at Hyatt Regency, Crystal City Virginia
Emerge Art Walk, Washington, DC
Art Underground display, Crystal City, Virginia
Residences
2025: Cycladic Arts Residency, Paros, Greece
2023: AIR Ubud, Ubud, Bali
2013: Palette People Artist Residency, Vagamon, India