Michelle Vine is an installation, performance, and photo media artist. Her current practice is centred on touch; she aims to bring awareness to this neglected sense, whilst disrupting sight’s dominance of the art experience.  She focuses on the body and the gallery as sites for investigating sensory knowledge formation, using a phenomenological approach, informed by affect theory, sensory neuroscience and her lived experiences of neurodiversity and chronic illness.

Her sensual tactile installations incorporate discrete objects and embraceable soft sculptures, building them into ever-evolving tactile recreational playgrounds that tempt the body to touch and rekindle deeper connections to self through the skin.  Vine works with gallery visitors’ tactile sense, and with her own, as a primary material in collaborative art making. A key goal of Vine’s practice is to create playful, positive, embodied art experiences that allow for greater inclusion for audiences of diverse ages and with disabilities anor access needs.

In 2020 she was selected as one of Australia’s best emerging artists in Hatched: The National Graduate Show at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA). Recent career highlights include Play Moves at the Museum of Brisbane, Curiocity for the World Science Festival Brisbane, Soft Touch at Caboolture Regional Gallery, Drawn Thread: 50 years of Australian Feminist Textiles at Artisan, and Touch and Tactility in Art at Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St Louis, USA. In 2019 Vine graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art (First Class Honours) from the Queensland College of Art, where she is employed as a Lecturer in Visual Art focused on arts-health and wellbeing.

Michelle Vine
michellevinestudio@gmail.com
B. 1976, Sydney Australia. Lives and works in Meanjin/Brisbane, Australia

Education
Current  Master of Mental Health (Art Therapy), Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane
Current  Graduate Certificate in Disability and Inclusion, School of Public Health, Deakin University, Melbourne
2018-19 Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours) (First Class and University Medal), Queensland College of Art, Griffith University
2013-16 Bachelor of Fine Art (Double Majors in Sculpture and Art Theory), Queensland College of Art, Griffith University
2012 Certificate IV in Visual Art and Contemporary Craft, North Coast TAFE, Murwillumbah
2011 Certificate I in Visual Art and Contemporary Craft, North Coast TAFE, Murwillumbah
2003 Certificate III in Applied Colour & Design, Australian School of Colour & Design, Sydney

Selected Exhibitions

2023
Entwine, Ipswich Art Gallery (4 – 30 Mar 2023)

2022
Play Moves, Museum of Brisbane (9 Dec 2022 – 17 Apr 2023)
Curiocity, Queensland Museum for the World Science Festival, South Bank Parklands, Brisbane (24 Jun 20 – 10 Jul 2022) (collaboration with Perrin Ellis)

2021
Soft Touch, Caboolture Regional Gallery (commissioned solo show 4 Dec 2021 – 27 Jan 2022)
Drawn Thread: 50 years of feminist textiles, Artisan Brisbane (Nov 20 – Feb 2021)
The Plastics, Griffith University, Project Gallery, Brisbane (February)
What Matters, KEPK space, Brisbane (7-21 April 2021)

2020
Hatched 2020: National Graduate Show, PICA Perth (2 May – 12 September 2020)
Contested Biography, Artspace Mackay (14 Apr – 20 Sept 2020) (commissioned solo show)
Close at Hand: Touch and Tactility in Art, Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, USA (in conjunction with the third biennial graduate student art history symposium) (February 27 – March 3)
Land / Sea / Sky, PhotoNOLA, New Orleans Annual Festival of Photography, USA
Triangles are not my genre, Griffith University, Project Gallery

2019
Land / Sea / Sky, A Smith Gallery, Texas USA
Ellipse, Honours & Masters Graduate Exhibition, Griffith University Galleries, Brisbane
Under the Southern Sun, Maud Street Photo Gallery, Newstead QLD
Touch Lab, Griffith University, Grey Street Gallery, Brisbane, (solo)
Pad, Griffith University, Glass Box Gallery, Brisbane, (solo pop up)
Quadrat, Logan Art Gallery, Logan (duo with Jeanette Stok)

2018
Surrogates For Social Touch, Griffith University, Project Gallery, Brisbane, (solo)
Libris Awards Exhibition: The Australian Artists Book Prize, Artspace Mackay, Mackay, QLD

2017
Curios!, QLD Museum for World Science Festival, Brisbane
Quadrat, duo show with Jeanette Stok, POP Gallery, Brisbane

2016
#PRIZENOPRIZE, The Walls ARI, Miami (curated by Mariam Arcilla)
Sculpture 16, QCA Graduate Showcase, Brisbane, QLD

2015
Rundgang, Kunsthochschule Kassel, Germany
/ oder – oder l oder $, Kunsthochschule Kassel, Germany
Subject Line, The Walls ARI, Miami

2014
Marymount Art Show, Marymount College, Burleigh Heads, QLD
1/3, First year showcase exhibition, Project Gallery, Brisbane, QLD

2013
Griffith Printmakers, Containerval Festival, Brisbane, QLD
A Book About Death: Australia, Tweed Regional Gallery, Murwillumbah, NSW
Arrival, Webb Gallery, QCA, Brisbane, QLD

2012
Shift, Certificate IV Graduate Show, North Coast Institute of TAFE, Murwillumbah, NSW

Selected Grants and Awards

2022
Dean’s Commendation for Academic Excellence, Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane
Artists’ Benevolent Fund grant recipient, National Association for the Visual Arts

2021
Finalist, Fisher’s Ghost Art Award, Campbelltown Art Centre, Campbelltown NSW

2020
Finalist, LIBRIS Awards, Australian National Artists Book Prize, Artspace Mackay, QLD (collaboration with Perrin Ellis)
stART grant recipient, Arts Queensland & Metro Arts, for the creation of new work
National Assistance Program for the Arts Grant recipient, Sidney Myer Fund & The Myer Foundation, Melbourne VIC

2019
University Medal for outstanding academic performance in Fine Art, Griffith University, Brisbane
Academic Excellence Award in Bachelor of Fine Art (Honours), QCA, Griffith University

2018
Winner, Altered Book Prize (Acquisitive), LIBRIS Awards, Australian National Artists Book Prize, Artspace Mackay, QLD

2016
Finalist, #PRIZENOPRIZE for emerging contemporary & experimental artists, juried by Mariam Arcilla, The Walls ARI, Miami
Academic Excellence Award in Bachelor of Fine Art, QLD College of Art, Griffith University
Griffith University Honours College Summer Research Bursary, Brisbane Australia
Griffith University Honours College Summer Winter Bursary, Hamburg, Germany.
Griffith University Honours College Top-Up Grant
Griffith University Go Global Short Term Study Grant

2015
Australian Government ISEP Grant of $5,000 to study Fine Art in Kassel University, Germany
Bonnie English Memorial Art Theory Award, Highest Academic Achievement, Griffith University
Griffith University Honours College Summer Research Bursary, North Queensland & Germany

2014
Winner/Selected Work, Critical Writing Section, Memefest Friendly Competition
Billie Hall Bursary for Outstanding Achievement in Fine Art, Griffith University
Academic Excellence Award in Bachelor of Fine Art, QLD College of Art, Griffith University

2013
Academic Excellence Award in Bachelor of Fine Art, QLD College of Art, Griffith University

2012
PPR Full Bursary for Fine Art Studies, North Coast Institute of TAFE, Murwillumbah, NSW
Acquisitive Art Prize, Marymount Art Show, Marymount College, Burleigh Heads, QLD

2003
Student Excellence Award, School of Colour & Design Australia, Sydney NSW

Selected Presentations
2021 Presenter & Workshop Facilitator, Reconnect, Queensland Art Teachers association conference
2019 Panellist, The Great Debate, Logan Art Gallery for World Environment Day
2019 Panellist, Creating Change: Women in the Arts in Brisbane, for Brisbane City Council Women’s Work
2019 Presenter & Panellist, German Literature Day (Inaugural), Brisbane Square Library, German Week
2019 Presenter/Artist, Avant Garden, St Hilda’s School, Southport, senior art authentic experience day
2016 Presenter, Visual Cultures & Possible Futures Symposium, St Hilda’s School, Gold Coast, Australia

Residencies
2020 Museum of Brisbane, Artist @ Home Residency
2017 House Conspiracy Residency, Brisbane

Festivals
2020 New sculpture commission by Museum of Brisbane on behalf of Brisbane City Council for inclusion
in a COVID-19 time capsule.
2018 Jungle Love Festival, sculpture commission, Imbul, QLD
2019 Yonder Festival, sculpture commission, Imbul, QLD

Collections
Artspace Mackay
Brisbane City Council
Marymount College
TAFE NSW Skillshare Collection
Private collections in Melbourne, VIC; Sydney, NSW; Brisbane, QLD and Kassel, Germany

Professional Memberships
Access Arts Australia
Griffith University Honours College
National Association of Visual Artists, Australia
Women in technology and life sciences, Queensland