Statement
Michele de la Menardiere is an abstract painter based in San Francisco, California. Inspired by memories, nature, and music, and the everyday world, she developed a distinctive visual language early on that explores emotion through color, gesture, and movement. This style was further enriched by her career as a designer and creative director.
Every piece navigates the boundary between intention and improvisation, allowing an innate rhythm to emerge. It is a cathartic practice—giving shape to intangible and shifting feelings and experiences. Rather than representing the world literally, my paintings evoke a feeling, inviting viewers to discover their own connections, interpretations, and personal meanings within the work.
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