Ep. 151: Exploring Presence and Permanence with Michael Velliquette
On this episode we interview Artist and Paper Sculptor Michael Velliquette. We talk about discovering paper as a complex creative medium, exploring where present and permanence intersect, pursuing opportunities that are genuine to the work, and nurturing professional relationships while balancing gallery representation.
Michael Velliquette
Artist and Paper Sculptor | Madison, WI USA
Artist Bio:
A working artist for 20 years, Michael Velliquette has participated in over 150 exhibitions in museums and galleries in the US, Europe and Asia. His recent exhibitions include Paper Duets, Gallery Art.Motif, Dehli, India; Fascination Paper, Gustav Lübke Museum, Hamm, Germany; The Cheongju Craft Biennale, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do, South Korea; Moments of Transformation, Morgan Paper Conservancy Gallery, Cleveland, OH; The Possibilities of Paper, Torggler Fine Arts Center, Newport News, VA; Open Hands: Crafting the Spiritual, Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis University; and The Shanghai International Paper Art Biennial, Fengxian Museum, Shanghai, China.
His work is in the permanent collections of the Chazen Museum of Art; the Art Museum of South Texas; the Racine Art Museum; The San Antonio Museum of Art; The Progressive Corporation; The John Michael Kohler Art Center; and The Microsoft Collection.
He has participated in several residencies and cultural exchange programs including the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft; Artpace International Artist-in-Residence; the SÍM Residency, Reykjavik; the John Michael Kohler Art/Industry program; EUARCA, Kassel, Germany, and Kloster Dornach, Basel, Switzerland.
His work has been featured in numerous print and online publications including Colossal, Time Out New York and The New York Times. He has been included in several compendiums on paper art produced by such publishers as Thames & Hudson, Gestalten, Sandu, Lark Crafts, Hightone Books.
He is member of the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA), the Guild of American Papercutters (GAP, and the Paper Artist Collective (PAC)—a global community of artists and designers dedicated to the medium of paper.
He received his BFA from the Florida State University-1993, and his MA & MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison-2000.
As an educator Velliquette is an Assistant Professor of Foundations in the Art Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he teaches courses in visual literacy and creative practice. He also teaches workshops on the paper arts and has been a visiting instructor at the Haystack Mountain School of Craft, the Pocosin School of Fine Craft, and Penland School of Craft (Summer 2024).
Artist Statement:
Michael Velliquette (American b. 1971) is an artist who makes intricately constructed paper-based sculpture. Velliquette makes use of a humble, everyday material to open a view into imagined worlds.
In using an innately delicate everyday material, Michael Velliquette’s paper sculptures convey strength, intent, and durability in which temporality and perpetuity coexist. The visual experience of these works is of a sense of confident robustness, even grandiosity, yet it is underscored by the knowledge that they are lightweight and prone to damage, highlighting a unique duality. They are at once abstract layers and shapes made from colored paper, and also structures that from one moment to the next suggest fortress-like constructions, tiered mandalas, or complex mechanical gears.
Velliquette challenges the unassuming nature of paper by creating pieces that appear dimensional, elaborate, and timeless, yet we know the material they are made from is susceptible to exposure to moisture, sunlight, fire, or the smallest pressure or fold, and requires conscious observation and care. Cut exclusively and assembled by hand, Velliquette’s works can take hundreds of hours to complete.
Velliquette’s process of making these works could be considered a meditative exercise, in a sense, as the sculpture comes together bit by bit, utilizing a range of simple tools. Through a meticulous and intuitive process of measuring, cutting, and assembling pieces of colored paper into complex structures and geometric systems, a simple material is imbued with the power to transfix. Art becomes a place where the present and permanence intersect. Some motifs seem almost elemental in their use across time, cultures, and geography.
Stay Connected With Eliza:
Website: www.velliquette.com
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