My current work investigates the dialogue between the wooden surfaces on which I paint and the trees from which those panels were built. I highlight the interconnectedness of humans and nature, while addressing life’s impermanence and transience. Industry's straight lines and angles try to control nature, transforming a tree’s rounded mass into flat rectangular sheets; yet, the wood grain’s undulations, marking the tree’s growth and annual water intake, emerge despite its new, boxy confines. A tree's experiences are indelibly written on its interior and at the same time area historical account of the landscape itself. In my paintings, I strive to conjure the landscape that no longer exists but is inherently contained in each panel while expressing the visual contrast and harmony where human-made structures and nature intersect.
Artist Biography
Michele Kishita is a Philadelphia-based artist who uses landscape as her primary subject. Her paintings are strongly influenced by the graphic stylizations and compressed spaces of Japanese ukiyo-e prints. Kishita’s paintings are in a number of private/corporate collections, including Toyota, Capital One, and Kaiser Permanente, and her work is featured in Create! Magazine, on the Poetry Foundation blog and Studio Break podcast, as well as in several literary journals. She has participated in artist residencies in New Mexico, Russia, and Iceland and exhibited at the Sharjah Art Museum in the United Arab Emirates and the Museum of Non-Conformist Art in St. Petersburg, Russia. Kishita received both her BFA and MFA in painting from the University of the Arts and is represented by Edgewater Gallery, James Oliver Gallery, The Drawing Room Gallery, and Carrie Coleman Fine Art.
Education
2010 The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA MFA, Painting
1997 The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA BFA, Fine Arts, Painting and Drawing with honors
Awards & Honors
Artist Residences & Grants
2018 SPAR Artist Residency, St. Petersburg, Russia
NES Artist Residency, Skagaströnd, Iceland
2017 OCHO Artist Residency, Questa, New Mexico
Blick Grant, InLiquid, Philadelphia, PA
Bibliography
Publications/Interviews
"The Way We See it", Vermont Art Guide, Issue #7, 2018
Lee, Sueyeun Juliette "Light is a Complex Medium", Poetry Foundation, 2017
Toyota Capital One Kaiser Permanente Park Towne Place White & Case Howard Gittis Student Center, Temple University Fox Business School, Temple University Drexel University Texas Tech University The University of the Arts Jill Felix Colton
Professional Experience
Lectures
2018 NoBA Salonspace, Bala Cynwyd, PA
2017 Philly Stewards - ArtistSpeak, Philadelphia, PA
James Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2015 Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA May
Pennswood Art Gallery, Newtown, PA
Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA October
Windsor Art Center, Windsor, PA
The Drawing Room Gallery, Cos Cob, CT
2014 Philadelphia Open Studio Tours Artist Talk, CFEVA@Sonesta, Philadelphia, PA
2013 Philadelphia Open Studio Tours Artist Talk, Philadelphia, PA
The Drawing Room Gallery, Cos Cob, CT
2011 Making Place Artist Lecture, Pennsylvania State University, Abington, PA
Exhibitions
Solo
2020 Atmospheric Conditions, The Drawing Room Gallery, Cos Cob, CT
Absent Futures, Central Tattoo Studio Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Confluence, 2,04 gallery, Art Centre Pushkinskaya-10, St. Petersburg, Russia
Michele Kishita: Recent Works, NoBA Salonspace, Bala Cynwyd, PA Curator: Susanna W. Gold, Ph.D.
2017 Transient Season, Gallery 543, URBN Corporate, Philadelphia, PA
2016 Ecstatic Territories, The 3rd Place Gallery, Wilmington, DE
Chromarrythmia, Central Tattoo Studio Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2015 Fluid Resonance, Pennswood Art Gallery, Newtown, PA
2013 Of Water and Wood, The Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
Two-Person
2016 Michele Kishita & Eliza Stamps: Graphic Tales, The Drawing Room Gallery, Cos Cob, CT
2015 Essential Impermanence: The Work of Debra Losada and Michele Kishita, Windsor Art Center, Windsor, CT
2013 Making It Alumni Invitational: Michele Kishita and John Souter, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2011 Making Place: Michele Kishita & H.John Thompson, Woodland Gallery, Penn State University, Abington, PA
Making Place: Michele Kishita & H.John Thompson, President’s Gallery, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Group
2019 Traditional Meets Contemporary, InLiquid at Schwarz Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Summer Rush, HOT•BED & James Oliver Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
SPAR Museum Night, 2,04 gallery, Art Centre Pushkinskaya-10, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Fire Theft, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE Curator: Rick Hidalgo
Collector's Exhibition: NoBA One Year Anniversary, NoBA, Bala Cynwyd, PA Curator: Susanna W. Gold, Ph.D.
25th Anniversary Exhibition, The Painting Center, New York, NY
2018 Intersection, RH Gallery, Hockessin, DE Curator: Phyllis Gorsen
SPAR Museum Night, SPAR, St. Petersburg, Russia
The Way We See It, Edgewater Gallery, Middlebury, VT
International Variety, HOT•BED Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2017 ArtPrize 9, St. Matthews Venue, Grand Rapids, MI
Legions, James Oliver Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Missing Objects: A Tribute to Hassan Sharif, Flying House, Dubai, UAE
From the Pages, Paradigm Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Curator: Ekaterina Popova
2016 Reinventing Nature, Stanek Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Curator: Barbara Harberger
2015 Plan A: Artists as Adjuncts in Academia, PA Capitol Building, Harrisburg, PA
2014 FLUENT: The Language of Paint, The Drawing Room Gallery, Cos Cob, CT
The Painting Center is Turning 21, Painting Center, New York, NY Invitational
Navigation Puzzle, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE Curator: Bridgette Mayer
CFEVA @ Sonesta, Sonesta Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2014 Summer Group Show, The Drawing Room Gallery, Cos Cob, CT
Dialogue in Color, The Drawing Room Gallery, Cos Cob, CT
2013 Paper Work, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ
The Drawing Room Summer Exhibit: Works by Represented Gallery Artists, The Drawing Room Gallery, Cos Cob, CT
2013 Members Exhibition: InLiquid, PPAC, Second State, Crane Arts, Philadelphia, PA
The Drawing Room Gallery at Realm, Realm, Norwalk, CT
Homeland: Contemporary Approaches to Contemplating the Landscape, The Drawing Room Gallery, Cos Cob, CT
2012 Water, Water Everywhere, Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT
Maps, Pagus Gallery, Norristown PA
RSVP 2012, LG Tripp Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
8th Annual Juried Exhibition, The Shore Institute of Contemporary Art, Long Branch, NJ
The 29th Annual Exhibition of the Emirates Fine Arts Society: Still Melting, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Curated Exhibitions
2013 All in the Family: An Exhibition of Collaborations, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Undercurrent: A BackPack Gallery Exhibition, The Porch, Philadelphia, PA
