Michelle Echenique
Artist
Selected Exhibitions
RESIDENCIES & PROJECTS
Collage Artists Residency, Sanquhar, Scotland, September 2022
Ano Asites Artists Residency, Crete, Greece, October 2021
Wildforest Sanctuary, Annapolis, CA, June 2020
Dirty Girls of Lesvos Island Artist in Residence, Lesvos, Greece, June 2018, Summer 2019
Bulbfest, Albany, CA 2019
Joshua Tree Artward Bound Creative Camp for Wayward Girls, Spring 2017 & 2018
Love-In, 2017-2018, San Francisco, CA
I-Park Foundation International Artist-in-Residence, East Haddam, CT April 2016
SOLO SHOWS
Reimagining the Flag, Hayes Valley Art Works, San Francisco, CA October, November 2022
Reclaimed Room, San Francisco, CA October 29-December 24, 2016
Spark Arts, San Francisco, CA November 2015
Cliche Noe Valley Gallery Shop, San Francisco, CA September 2015
The Club at the Claremont, Berkeley, CA January-February 2012
Art @ the Library, Napa, CA March 2008
North Berkeley Frame and Gallery, Berkeley, CA March-April 2006
The Club at the Claremont, Berkeley, CA March 2003
Salmon Graphics Art Gallery, "Everyday Miracles", Berkeley, CA, March 2001
Pacific Grove Art Center, Pacific Grove, CA, January 2000
Galeria Scola, Oakland, CA, June 1997
Veritas Software Corporate Headquarters, Mountain View, CA, Feb-April 1997
Berkeley YWCA, Berkeley, CA, March 1997
Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, OR, November 1996
Chico Art Center, Chico, CA, June 1995
El Camino Real Women's Club, San Clemente, CA, October 1994
St. Francis Foundation, San Francisco, CA, July 1993
JURIED SHOWS
Traces, Village Theater Art Gallery, Danville, CA January 14-March 12, 2020
Emotional Numbness: The Impact of War on the Human Psyche and Ecosystems, Platform 3, Tehran, Iran, Fall 2020
Art on the Grounds, Bioneers Conference, San Rafael, CA 2019
Bulbfest 2019, Albany, CA 2019
Art in the Garden, Noe Valley Garden Tour, San Francisco, CA 2019
Earth: An Art Exhibit at the Office of Senator Wiener, San Francisco, CA Sept-Oct, 2018
Jewett Gallery, "Reclaiming Earth", WEAD Exhibition, San Francisco, CA April-June, 2017
June Steingart Gallery, "Murmurations", Oakland, CA December, 2016
Studio 23, "Art for Animals", Alameda, CA September, 2016
Hayes Valley Art Works, "Present Ground", San Francisco, CA September, 2016
Hayes Valley Art Works, "New Quarters", San Francisco, CA June, 2016
Mosser Hotel, San Francisco, CA March-May, 2016
Fort Pop-Up Gallery, San Francisco, CA August 23-24, 2015
Collect, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA October 2014
Silicon Valley Small Works, Vargas Gallery, Mission College, Santa Clara, CA
November-December 2013
50-50 Show III, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA August-October 2011
Arizona Aqueous, Tubac Center for the Arts, Tubac, AZ January 13-March 13, 2011
2010 Bay Area Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA October-November 2010
Mosiacs, ArtWorks Downtown, San Rafael, CA March-April 2010
Postal: Artist Created Postcards, Garage Gallery, Berkeley, CA January 2010
Beyond Boundaries, Seed Corn Gallery, Berkeley, CA March-June 2009
Valentine Show, Garage Gallery, Berkeley, CA Jan-Feb 2009
Holiday Show, California Modern Gallery, San Francisco, CA December 2005
Pro Arts, "New Visions: Introductions 00", Oakland, CA, July 2000
Pro Arts, Juried Annual, Oakland, CA, October 1998
Pro Arts, "New Visions: Introductions 98", Oakland, CA, July 1998
Antioch Lynn House Gallery, "Sports", Antioch, CA, January 1997
Crocker-Kingsley Biennial Exhibition, Sacramento, CA, May-July 1996
Amsterdam Art, "Golden Acrylics juried exhibition", Berkeley, CA, June 1996
Danville Fine Arts, Danville, CA, July 1994
Lillian Paley Center for Visual Arts, Oakland, CA, January 1994
GROUP SHOWS
New Normal: Learning From the Past to Move Forward Together, China Brotsky Gallery at
Tides Converge, San Francisco, CA, November 2021-2022
Array, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA, December 2013
ArtSpan San Francisco Open Studio, San Francisco, CA, October 2014, 2013, 2010, 2008
Pro Arts Open Studio, Berkeley, CA, June 2003, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998
Bistango Gallery Restaurant, Irvine, CA, June-September 2001
North Berkeley Frame, "The Flower Show", Berkeley, CA, March 2000
East Bay Women Artists, Montclair, CA, October 2000
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
SITE STEWARD, Hayes Valley Art Works, San Francisco
A project to activate outdoor space awaiting development.
TEACHING ARTIST, Kids & Art, Burlingame, CA
Provide art workshops to children with cancer and their care circles to improve
their well-being.
FORMER TREASURER/BOARD MEMBER, WEAD (Women Environmental Arts Dialog)
PRESS
San Francisco Chronicle, "Found Art in Building Supply Store", November 24, 2016
San Francisco Chronicle, "Art Garden Grows in Hidden Hayes Valley Site", August 5, 2016
Her friends know her as someone always on the lookout for street finds, one who eagerly describes the bounty of a successful hunt. Michelle Echenique is an artist drawn to reclaimed material for her mixed media work. Places and their local materials are fertile ground for her, whether at home in San Francisco or in residence elsewhere.
Echenique utilizes found and natural material in her mixed media work. Using throwaways is key to the work’s impact and intention. She revels in the challenge of repurposing, reshaping and redefining recognizable material inviting a new read on the familiar.
She honors the integrity and original purpose of these found materials by making use of the innate histories and forms embedded in each fragment. The process is evolutionary, beginning with cleaning, repairing and prep, then figuring how to build and create a work of art. This initially deliberate, then intuitive, process allows for a message or story to surface with connections to themes of renewal and place. In the end something new emerges, a work with hints of the familiar adjacent to mystery, a juxtaposition that invites engagement and scrutiny.
Contextualizing work within a place’s natural and human history is what drives Echenique. In her view, aligning a prevailing sense of time with its past encourages dynamic consideration of how current circumstance is shaped by what came before.
Outside the studio Michelle is a site steward at Hayes Valley Art Works. She is a volunteer teaching artist at Kids & Art. Formerly on the Board of Directors and Treasurer of WEAD, she is a member of WEAD (Women Eco Artists Dialog)