ABOUT

Michele Grimston is a visual artist and community cultural development practitioner based in the ACT. She completed her honours degree in textiles at the Australian National University School of Art in 2009 and in 2014, she graduated with a Masters in Community Cultural Development from the Victorian College of the Arts.

She has held solo shows in Canberra, Melbourne and Perth and undertaken multiple artist residencies – creating individual works at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada and working with schools and community groups across Australia to facilitate community created work.

The common thread across her works is connection. Grimston explores the connections which hold together the systems of our world – whether these be personal, social or ecological. The flimsy materials and labour intensive practices that form the base of her individual practice, hint at the fragility of such systems and the ongoing effort required to sustain them, while her community based works attempt to actively engage in this effort.

CV

Education

2014 Masters in Community Cultural Development, Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne

2009 Bachelor of Arts (Visual) with Honours / Bachelor of Arts, Australian National University, ACT

Residencies

2019 Vancouver Arts Centre, Albany WA

2017 Artist in Residence Coolgardie Primary School, Awesome Arts, WA

2016 Artist in Residence Newman Senior High School, Djidi Djidi Primary School, Awesome Arts WA

2012 Artist in Residence Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada

2011 Artist in School, Lyons Early Childhood School, ACT Government Artists in Schools Program

Solo Exhibitions

2016 Indefinite Landscapes, Paper Mountain, Perth

2016 A Catalogue of Scattered Thoughts, Archive Room, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, WA

2013 Spaces for Dreaming, Conduit Arts, Melbourne

2010 Wear, Canberra Contemporary Art Space Manuka, Canberra

Selected Group Exhibitions

2019 Geo: The Art of the Collection, ANU Project Space, Canberra

2018 Nephelokokkygia, Brunswick Street Gallery, Victoria

2017 Bunbury Biennale, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Western Australia

2017 Tree Street Art Safari, Bunbury, Western Australia

2016 Fort, BunbARI, Western Australia

2015 The Second Skin, Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre, Western Australia

2015 Artists at the Helm, Bunbury Regional Art Gallery, Western Australia

2012 Underdog Arts Festival, Marina West, British Columbia, Canada

2011 The Beetle and the Butterfly, Window 99, Melbourne and M16 Artspace Canberra

2010 Coalesce (emerging artist support scheme award), Strathnairn Gallery, Canberra

2010 Epidemic (Emerging Artist Support Scheme Award), Craft ACT, Canberra

2009 Graduate Exhibition, School of Art Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra

Grants

2016 Project Funding Under 15K, WA Government, Department of Culture and the Arts

2011 Arts ACT Artists in Schools Program, ACT Government, Arts ACT

2010 Youth Interact Grant, ACT Government, Department of Community Services