Having started etching whilst studying for her foundation in 1983, it was not until her final year at The Slade that she would revisit the medium. Michelle would then go on to study for an MA in Printmaking at Wimbledon in the early 90’s. This eventually led her to Morley College in 1993 where she still resides as the head of her department. In 2010 she set up her own print studio with her husband called SLAUGHTERHAUS Print Studio.
Printmaking is a major part of Michelle’s practice, but it is not making prints that is important to her, rather using process to make new discoveries. The possibilities of combination of techniques, mark making and difference feed my work. She work’s instinctively, and is always ready to make changes, or to start again- the work constantly evolves as she aim to capture a combination of memory, place and abstract composition. Techniques from print come back into drawing and painting and vice versa- she is always trying to blur the boundaries between them. She often makes single images, rejecting the idea of an edition. Michelle responds to accident and chance, often working directly on the press to resolve an image. I work on the prints like paintings, embracing change.