Michelle – affectionately known as Mike – Ochonicky clearly lives life guided by her love of art. An award-winning artist whose work is highly collectible, she’s Executive Director of Missouri Artisans Association/The Best of Missouri Hands and one of its juried members, Arts Editor for The Healthy Planet Magazine, and arts educator with Partners in Education.
“In our technological age we sometimes lose connection with the human touch. Art comes from the human hand and heart,” says Ochonicky. “We define entire civilizations by the arts they leave behind. “
While Ochonicky enjoys working in a variety of mediums, she is best known as a master of the Early American art form of scrimshaw, creating scrimshaw for 31 years. “Just like the sailors of the 1800s, I was ‘hooked’ by scrimshaw,” Ochonicky smiles. “I like its simplicity. There’s no color to distract from the actual work. You only see the lines.”
Inspiration is everywhere and she is especially drawn to botanical details. As a Master Gardener, she is very familiar with the precise details of plants. “Scrimshaw lends itself well to those tiny details. It demands close study. In a world bombarded by supersizing and big loud stuff, it’s calming to focus on what is small,” she explains.
Her scrimshaw is on permanent display in the Missouri Governor’s Mansion and at the Dedalo Museum of Contemporary Art in Italy, as well as in collections - private, corporate, state and universities in the U.S., Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and Australia. In 2010 she was honored – for the fourteenth time - as one of the top 200 Traditional Artists by Early American Life Magazine.