"EL BAGADOU - LA MUSICIENNE"

About the artist

On the 20th of January 2010 Michèle was granted the honour of becoming an Academician of the prestigious French "Academie des Beaux Arts de Saint Louis" (The Academy of Fine Art of Saint Louis).Michèle Vicq was born on the 24th of January 1953 at Aubigny in the region of central France known as the Berry. Third of a family of nine children, in her heart of hearts she has always been a tomboy who loves working with her hands. Her father, who worked as a welder in a large factory, had set up a workshop in their garage where he made wrought-iron balconies and door grilles. Unseen by her father, Michèle would try-out his welding equipment so as to 'be like daddy'. She has kept these sweet memories close to her heart for the last forty years.In 1986 she arrived in Brittany, first living in the town of St Malo where she ran a small business. At this time even she did not suspect that she was an artist and it was not until 1996 that she began first to paint, inspired by her partner Lionel. Although completely self-taught, Michèle's canvases gained a dozen prizes in art competitions.Her great adventure in sculpture began in 2001 when Lionel was inspired to give her a set of welding equipment. The memories of her father surged up and her career as a sculptor in metal was born.Since then Michèle has exhibited widely throughout Brittany and also in Germany where her work has gained several major prizes. In 2006 she opened up her workshop so that she could hold sculpture courses tailored to the individual for both adolescents and adults. Many groups of schoolchildren have also passed through the premises.Michèle has an astonishing capacity to create, drawing on her imagination and childlike dreams. She proclaims her creative power through her works of painting and sculpture. She is a true master of her art in which the smallest scrap of metal or canvas is thrust to the furthest reaches of her imagination while at the same time gaining new meaning – even if this meaning seems at times absurd and even grotesque.She loves to live in a world where the unconscious mind and sheer instinct fly or float free with an extraordinary freedom of expression. As she herself says: “the true difference between the artist and me is the over-riding ambition to invent the fantastic”.