Michelle Smith
Michelle Drane Smith --- Sculptor
Michelle Drane Smith is a native of Louisiana, has lived and worked in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast since 1970. She first studied oil painting at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts with Auseklis Ozols, specializing in portraits and historical buildings.
A latent interest in sculpture began at Las Belles Artes Institute in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico with Maestro Lothar Kestenbaum, working in both fired clay and bronze with a major emphasis on portraiture.
She has exhibited her work in Biloxi, Jackson, and Meridian, Mississippi; and in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Alexandria, Louisiana; as well as San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
A commemorative bust of Miss Fannye A. Cook, a Mississippi pioneer conservationist, is a part of the collection at the Museum of Natural Science in Jackson, Mississippi.
 For the Tricentennial Celebration 1999, Michelle completed a life size bust of Pierre Lemoyne, Sieur D'Iberville. This statuary, Pass Christian’s first sculpture to honor our founding forbear, was turned over by the Tricentennial Committee to the PC Historical Society for permanent display. This gift was her way of contributing to the Coast's Heritage and Pass Christian where Michelle has resided since 1994.
|