I seem to have been born a perfectionist, and believed there was no room for mistakes in this world. My art is the antithesis of that. Although it has been a long, arduous journey, I have discovered that it’s okay to make mistakes...to be messy...to have fun and enjoy what you’re doing. I now understand how to play and be free. My style is a visual expression of this fearlessness.

Michelle Bernard Harmazinski mixed media artist

When working on a project, the process or piece may evolve, but I enjoy that unpredictability. Nothing is written in stone! There is no manual! You don’t have to follow directions! And you can change your mind! I make mistakes and I can fix them. It took me years to believe that about my art.

Conversely, I can labor over a piece for hours, weeks or months. I evaluate every feature and carefully choose exactly what objects get placed and where, so that I can create just the right mood for a piece. I savor the moment it evolves into an authentic representation of my original idea.

I delight in the irony of making something beautiful out of something discarded. Inspiration often comes from broken, worn, antique and found objects. I love working with something that had a life before me. A story. I look at the object and imagine who owned it, what kind of life they had, or how the object was used. And I challenge myself to make that object live on...transformed into something new and meaningful.

To satisfy the many facets of my personality, I work with several different mediums in a wide range of artistic styles. From this place between whimsy and irony, my work emerges as a curious reflection of who I am. And because each new project is really an exploration of self, I revel in the personal evolution that is an inevitable part of my creative journey.