Michelle Stitzlein is an American artist who creates

found object A found object (a calque from the French ''objet trouvé''), or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already hav ...

art / sculpture from recycled materials. She received a BFA in 1989 from the

Columbus College of Art and Design Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) is a Private college, private art school in Columbus, Ohio. It was founded in 1879 as the Columbus Art School and is one of the oldest private art and design colleges in the United States. Located in dow ...

(in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

). She and her husband Nathaniel Stitzlein (also an artist) founded Art Grange Studios in

Baltimore, Ohio Baltimore is a village in Fairfield County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,981 at the 2020 census. History Baltimore was originally called New Market, and under the latter name was laid out in 1824. A post office called Baltimore has ...

. At Art Grange they share their love of art with the public by offering tours of the studios as well as art workshops for all ages.

Elevating the Unimpressive

Stitzlein's assemblages of mostly discarded materials propels the viewer to reassess that which is often overlooked. "As an artist and as a person, I ask myself to look closer, lest I miss the one exquisite trait in something oftentimes regarded as distasteful, old, tired, unimpressive or just plain ugly so that I may see it again with fresh eyes." Kurt Shaw writes, "If, as the

Jungian Analytical psychology (, sometimes translated as analytic psychology; also Jungian analysis) is a term referring to the psychological practices of Carl Jung. It was designed to distinguish it from Freud's psychoanalytic theories as their s ...

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...

and poet Clarissa Pinkola Estes would have us believe, butterflies are "Soul Birds," then Stitzlein sets the mind free to wonder not what junk is, but what it can be. "

Moth series

Combining an artistic boldness with the premise that recycled materials have the capacity to

metamorphose Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically developmental biology, develops including birth, birth transformation or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through ...

into larger objects of great beauty, Stitzlein's series of more than 14 wall hung sculptures moths range in size from 3 to 11 feet. She began working on this series in 2003, inspired by "myriad varieties of beautiful, exotic moths in my own backyard." These pieces are cobbled together in the most pristine way from old piano keys, tin cans, license plates and bicycle tires, among other things.

Bottle cap art

Michelle Stitzlein offers workshops, demonstrations and lectures about creating sculpture from plastic bottle caps and other recycled materials. Each event is catered specifically to the needs of the venue and occasion. She has also written a book outlining projects for children, families, schools and non-profits utilizing recycled, plastic bottle caps.Stitzlein, M.' 'Bottlecap Little Bottlecap' ', 2003 ASIN B00262W9B8

References

External links

Art Grange , Michelle Salrin Stitzlein's biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stitzlein, Michelle 1967 births Living people Sculptors from Ohio American postmodern artists Columbus College of Art and Design alumni People from Baltimore, Ohio