Michelle's profile
Michelle La Perrière was born and grew up in Denver, Colorado, and has been creating art for decades. She has lived in Maryland since 1987, when she moved to Baltimore for graduate study with Grace Hartigan at the Maryland Institute College of Art’s (MICA) Leroy E. Hoffberger School of Painting. Her drawings, paintings, prints, and mixed-media collages combine image fragments from visual source materials with observed and imagined forms and spaces. Enigmatic narratives that prompt curiosity and psychological investigation are central to her work, which has been exhibited in the United States, France, and Japan, and is held in private and public collections, including those of Syracuse University and the Borg-Warner Corporation.
Beginning her studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Parsons School of Design in New York, Michelle went on to receive her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her MFA from MICA. She has received Individual Artist Awards from the Maryland State Arts Council and the Mayor’s Advisory Council on Art and Culture, numerous MICA faculty development grants (both Marcella Brenner and Lucas awards), and MICA’s award for Excellence in Teaching. Select residencies include the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), Arteles Creative Center, Hämeenkyrö, Finland, Jentel Artist Residency, Banner, Wyoming (twice), The Hambidge Center for the Arts and Sciences, Rabun Gap, Georgia, The Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, New York, and The International Program for Artists in Rochefort en Terre, Brittany, France.
She has been teaching drawing, painting, and design at MICA since 1992, and served as co-chair of the First Year Experience (FYE) for ten years (2000 to 2010), and as chair during the pandemic (2019-2022).
