Catie Michel, "Memoria"

LOCATION: PlatteForum - 3575 Ringsby Ct

CATEGORY: Art Events

UPCOMING DATE AND TIME:

• Friday, Aug 1, 2025  6pm - 8pm

Having worked as a researcher and educator for the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, the Morro Bay National Estuary Program, Estación del Mar Cortés, and the Golden Gate Audubon, Catie is now based in Denver. As an artist and science illustrator working in acrylic, platinum-palladium, ink, watercolor, and digital media, Catie has been fortunate to work with various organizations to create informative visual narratives exploring the natural world. Select clients include: The Nature Conservancy, The Santa Fe Botanical Garden, NPR, NOAA, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and State Parks. Recent awards and exhibitions include OSU/PRAx: 2024-2026 Fireline Fellow; The Roger Tory Peterson Institute: Wild America Group Show; the Sharon Prize: 2023 recipient/2024 juror; Bell Projects: 2024 solo exhibition; Pine Meadow Ranch Center for Arts and Agriculture: 2023 artist-in-residence; and Museum of Outdoor Arts: 2023 muralist.

Catie is a a science illustrator, muralist, and public artist based in Denver, CO. Her background in field research and science communication grounds her work in attention, observation, and inquiry. As a devoted naturalist, her process begins the moment she catches a rare glimpse into a vernal pool or hear the competing calls of owls at night. Finding great community in shared curiosity, she examine themes of connection (human/more-than-human), access, advocacy, and the intersection of science and art. She explores what, in nature, is capturing our attention and what, in us, is looking back.

Memoria is a multimedia storytelling project examining the interconnectedness of the natural world and individual histories through the sharing of personal stories. Catie will interview and collaborate with ArtLab interns to create a collection of their platinum-palladium portraits. Invented in the early 1800s, platinum prints are among the most archival of the photographic processes and, if properly made, can last thousands of years. Catie will guide interns through all steps of portrait creation: interviewing, audio recording, photographing, file editing/preparation, printing, drawn/painted additions, and audio editing. Interns will then have the opportunity to repeat the process with someone else of their choosing and create their portrait. These final pieces will be shown at the exhibition with accompanying audio recordings of the participants.