michele pierson studio
Michele Pierson
Michele Pierson (b. 1993) is a Philadelphia-based contemporary surrealist painter whose work explores expanses of space, light, form, and matter through material and conceptual inquiry into the natural, technological, and cosmic. Her paintings investigate the supernaturality of human experience through surrealist depictions of landscapes, altars, intimate spaces, and portraiture. By collocating objects, perspectives, and cosmic motifs with tonal palettes, natural elements, and luminosity, her work aligns the physical with the metaphysical being both representational and ethereal. Contemplative and delicately detailed, her practice draws on reflection, meditation, dreaming, and reverent observation to illuminate unseen forces that connect the tangible and the transcendent, inviting viewers into a deeper, more mystical understanding of reality.
Michele earned her BA in Studio Art and Art History, magna cum laude, from Spelman College, with additional studies at the University of Ghana and Syracuse University in Florence, Italy. She has been awarded numerous fellowships and grants, including the Black Artist Fellowship (Mural Arts Philadelphia, 2024), Jar of Love Grant (ArtNoir x Sotheby’s, 2023), Forman Family Fellowship at The Alternative Art School (2023), Illuminate the Arts Grant (City of Philadelphia, 2021), and multiple residencies with The Alternative Art School and Mural Arts Philadelphia. Her work has been exhibited in recent and upcoming exhibitions at Luster Gallery + Studio (Philadelphia, PA), Eckert Gallery (Millersville, PA), Abington Art Center (Jenkintown, PA), Ubuntu Gallery (Philadelphia, PA), and Woman Made Gallery (Chicago, IL).