Michelle Voong is the recipient of the 2020 art scholarship from the Bedford Arts and Crafts Society (BACS). Michelle graduated this year from Bedford High School, and works primarily with ceramics and sculpture. She will attend the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, and plans to study graphic arts and marketing.
Reflecting on when she became interested in art and how she grew as an artist, Michelle observes, “I’ve been interested in art since I first stepped foot in an art classroom in kindergarten. I think my very first experience of taking any interest in art was when I was very young and I watched my mother draw a lily pad with a flower on top.”
She continues, “What most inspires me to create art is the mere joy of creating, being able to tell a story and experiencing the fun of using art materials to explore the different things I could potentially make and do.” Before high school, she typically stuck to doing casual drawings and taking art classes as much as she could in school. It wasn’t until she took her first ceramics class that she realized how much she enjoys throwing on the wheel and working with clay.
Michelle remarks that she will definitely miss the art classrooms at the high school and also the art teachers who let her make their classrooms “my home away from home.” She adds that she hopes to continue to grow and develop her skills, not only as an artist but as an individual as well.
Michelle’s work is on display on the Bedford Arts and Craft Society’s website. See her beautiful and imaginative artwork at http://www.bacsma.org.
About Michelle Voong’s work
Mother Nature: This sculpture was inspired by Mother Nature. I wanted to express how there was beauty and hope even when you’re surrounded with things that many would make you think otherwise. Likewise with Covid-19. Though things are not at their brightest, the moon still shines and the sun will rise.
Broken Beauty: This piece is telling a story about the saying “starving artist.” Many families don’t think of art major students as highly as other students, and they worry about whether we will make a stable living. I wanted to express how art is part of who we are–in fact, it is our passion–by showing the girl bleeding in color through the cracks. No matter what others many say to deter us from it, we cannot change what we truly love to do.
This sculpture actually was not intended to look this way. I had made it for a different purpose, for a different project, but it had exploded in the kiln. My peers had initially thought it was tragic when they saw my initial beautiful sculpture come out in pieces, but my teacher reassured them that I probably wouldn’t be disappointed and would probably still find a way to use it. When my teacher told me that, I found it hilarious, but when I saw the finished piece, I thought it looked cool.
Book Chandelier: The point of my senior art exploration project was to make art out of recycled materials. This sculpture was made with books my school was throwing out. I plan to donate this art piece to the school.
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