Michel Droge

About the Artist

Michel Droge is a painter and printmaker who lives and works in Portland, Maine. Their work is research based and deals directly with Climate Change, Maine's island Communities and local conservation efforts. They have worked with the Island Institute, Gulf of Maine Research Institute and the Audubon Society on collaborative projects.

Their most recent work is inspired by sublime encounters in nature and environmental research, finding poetry and meaning in scientific and material realities- a post anthropocene world imagined. Larger series of works are named after tomes that are musical, literary and poetic (see Requiem, Nocturnes, Aubades and Sappho's Ghosts) - thus invoking the importance of the influence of music, literature and poetry in her work.

Michel received their BA from Oberlin College and her MFA from Maine College of Art. After graduating from Oberlin they worked as a printmaker for Styria Studios in New York City. Her awards include grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation and the Maine Arts Commission. She has been a resident at the Saltonstall Foundation in Ithaca, NY and a member of the Olive Branch/Ink Shop.

Michel's work has been included in the exhibitions Other Landscapes: Michel Droge and Michael Shaunessey at Gould Academy (2015), the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award Recipients Exhibition at the Cue Art Foundation in NY, NY (2011) and Boston University's Young Contemporaries (2011).

Michel's Solo Exhibitions include Nocturne's : Recent paintings and prints by Michel Droge at University of Maine in Farmington (2016) and Tiny Catastrophe's: Considering the unseen climate change at June Fitzpatrick Gallery (2015). Presently, Michel is a Visiting Professor at Maine College of Art and maintains their studio at the Bakery Studios (thebakerystudios.org) in Portland Maine.