Michele Platis

Michele resides in Albuquerque, NM, with her husband and two dogs. She is the mother of three very creative grown children. Michele received her BFA from Alfred University (Alfred, NY) in 1993. She moved to New Mexico a month after graduation, fell in love with its beautiful landscape and rich culture, and decided she had found home.

Michele is a visual artist whose work spans painting, drawing, sketching, photography, and mixed media. She enjoys experimenting with a wide variety of materials and believes in the creative process of making with her hands. Her artistic practice has included colored pencils, charcoal, alcohol markers, ink, oil pastels, papier-mâché, watercolor, acrylic paint, textiles, and found materials.

In recent years, Michele has focused on mixed media, creating expressive works that incorporate masks and layered surfaces to explore identity, emotion, and storytelling. She paints on both canvas and reclaimed wood crate lids that her husband brings home, embracing the unique character of each surface. Much of her painting is inspired by the Southwest, capturing its landscapes, native flora, and birds.

As a photographer, Michele is particularly drawn to architecture and the reflections found in windows. She has been captivated by these layered and often unexpected perspectives since her college years. Her photographs emphasize strong lines, geometric angles, and the interplay of light, shadow, and reflection, revealing beauty in everyday structures. This fascination with composition, texture, and multiple viewpoints continues to influence her artwork across all media.

Michele is an art educator. She began teaching art at the Albuquerque Children's Museum in 1994 (which merged with Explora in 1995). She was always doing art with her children and still has many of their pieces hanging in her art studio. Michele taught art classes to homeschool students in her home and her children's classrooms. In 2006, Michele took a long-term substitute art position, which led her to return to school and earn her Master's in Education. She has taught Kindergarten, 5th grade, 6th-grade Humanities, and visual arts to students in grades K-8. As a general education teacher, she always integrated the arts into her lessons.

Michele is an arts education advocate. She also served as the Fine Arts Director while teaching visual arts, and as the New Mexico Art Education Association's (NMAEA’s) Secretary, President, and Advocacy Chair. As a board member, she has developed her leadership and advocacy skills, which have led her to pursue her administration license. On August 27, 2021, her dream of having an arts-integrated school was realized when the New Mexico Public Education Commission approved Rio Grande Academy of Fine Arts as the first K-12 arts-integrated charter school in NM. Michele is currently the Co-Executive Director of the school. She is also the President-Elect of the New Mexico Advisory Council on Arts Education (NMACAE)

Michele is an entrepreneur. In 2003, she started her own business, Ragamuffin Threads, selling tie-dyed and fleece items. She hand-dyed everything from socks and hats to t-shirts and jumpers for newborns to adults. She sewed fleece socks, hats, and baby blankets.

Michele is a student. She loves learning! Michele loves to read and attend local dance and music events. She loves talking to local artists, performing and visual, and learning how their culture plays a part in their art. She has also started to dive deeper into her culture. Researching Polish and Lithuanian folk art inspired her "wallpaper" sketches, drawings, and card sets.

(Work pre-2017 is signed MClark.)