About Michele Chapin

Michele Chapin has been a working California artist for the past 30 years, exhibiting and receiving countless awards for her sculptures and contributions to the community where she has lived. She attended the University of California in Santa Cruz studying drawing, printmaking, jewelry, sculpting in bronze, clay and metal, art history and psychology. As a founding member of the Santa Cruz Art Center, she had the opportunity to work with several professional artists working in a variety of mediums, and it was there, she carved her first stone. In 1987, Michele relocated to Ventura and with the purchase of a minimal amount of tools, began teaching herself to carve. Many of her sculptures are created from stones that she has quarried from local deserts in California, as well as purchased from other states and countries. Her sculptures are often sensual, colorful, and translucent incorporating natural textures whenever possible. Desert Flower, a sculpture created for her first exhibit, was one of the first pieces purchased for the Ventura Municipal Art Collection on permanent display at City Hall. Her first major projects, collaborating with Richard Sanders, were creating works for the Ventura County Symphony Design House Gardens. These sculptures incorporated carved marble spheres that hydroplaned with the use of water. Later, she was commissioned to create and install a monumental granite sphere fountain commissioned by U.S. Sales Corporation in Moorpark, California. These fountains were the first of their kind to be created in the United States.