Spotlight Artist

Michelle Cortez Gonzales

West
Artist profile photo

Barriers

Cactus pads with flowers against a red and teal abstract background.

oil, acrylic, and sewn fabric

Seed of Silence

Bright floral patterns with red flowers, blue pillars, and lace curtain in a garden setting.

oil, acrylic, lace, resin, poly-fil, embroidery floss, and sewn fabric

Passable Impassable Roles

Colorful window with red curtains, yellow floral stripes, lace fabric, and a doll in a hood.

oil, acrylic, resin, poly-fil, and sewn fabric

Featured in New American Paintings1 / 3

Artist Statement

 My work explores memory, assimilation, and cultural loss through a blend of fine art and craft. Positioned between two and three dimensions, past and present, and loss and reclamation, I highlight the tension between opposing ideas and the fragmented nature of memory. Through layering, transparency, and shifting light, I reflect the instability of identity and the resilience required to hold it.

As a third-generation Mexican American raised in Texas, my cultural identity has been shaped by silent actions of labor and faith. Working with my hands is a gesture of preservation, drawing me back to my family and heritage. I combine painting, collage, and found materials with embroidery, sewing, and hand-building, infusing each piece with tenderness as an offering to my ancestors and my present self.

Layers of found fabrics and painted imagery are used to construct fragile, fluid spaces shaped by memory’s gaps. Camouflaged figures and flora reference silenced histories that remain rooted in land and lineage. Through material and process, I create spaces of remembrance and reclamation, where memory becomes material and making becomes healing.

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