BIOGRAPHY
Michelle Hinebrook is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary visual artist, educator, and curator. Her practice brings together creative production, material research, critical inquiry, and contemplative practices, exploring the intersections of art, design, and technology.
She received her MFA in Painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art and her BFA in Art & Design, with honors, from the College for Creative Studies.
Hinebrook’s professional practice includes curating, exhibition development, arts education, institutional programming, and collaborations with art consultants, advisors, designers, galleries, collectors, and organizations. Her work has been exhibited, commissioned, collected, published, and reviewed internationally and is represented in institutional, corporate, hospitality, and private collections. She is currently seeking exhibitions, commissions, teaching opportunities, and collaborations with galleries, collectors, institutions, and organizations across art, design, technology, and education.
Hinebrook has completed projects and commissions for institutional, corporate, hospitality, and private collections, including the Pew Foundation, Daimler Art Corporate Collection, Edelman Corporate Collection, Ritz-Carlton Dubai, Raffles Branded Residences in Istanbul, Embassy Suites Minneapolis, Union Square South in New York, Universal City Hilton in California, Houston Royal Sonesta, Renaissance Hotels, Hyatt, Hilton, Baker Tilly, and Hotel Baronette.
Her work has been placed through art consultants, advisors, designers, and art organizations including DAC Art Consultants, Pfizer Corporation, Canvas Art Consultants, Eaton Fine Art, Michael Foley, Soho Myriad Art Consultants, 20x200, Inson Wood, Jen Bekman.
Her exhibitions include David Klein Gallery, Maryland Center for the Arts, Foley Gallery, Helene Nyborg Contemporary, Brooklyn Contemporary, Blacklist Gallery, Hallway Gallery, LTS Gallery, Edelman Gallery, 101 Exhibit Gallery, Hewitt Gallery of Art, Pratt Institute, Islip Art Museum, McKenzie Fine Art Gallery, Museum of New Art, One Line Gallery, Civilian Art Projects, Nancy Margolis Gallery, WSE Gallery at NYU, and Lemberg Gallery. Her work is represented in institutional, corporate, and private collections, including the Pew Foundation for the Arts, Museum of Arts and Design, Pfizer Corporation, Detroit Institute of Arts, Cranbrook Art Museum, numerous private collections.
Hinebrook’s thirty-year career in arts education and professional practice includes visiting artist, critic, educator, and curatorial work with Pratt Institute, the College for Creative Studies, Bowling Green State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Western Carolina University, the College Art Association, and Artisan, LLC.
Her teaching experience includes the Joan Mitchell Foundation, Pratt Institute, Young Audiences New York, Marquis Studios, Cranbrook Academy of Art, the College for Creative Studies, the University of Michigan, Bowling Green State University, UrbanGlass, Snowfarm, Artists Space, Parsons School of Design, Western Carolina University, NurtureArt, New England Crafts, Studio in a School, PS 20, and Berkeley Carroll School.
Hinebrook is Director of The Brooklyn Contemporary Artist Space and Artful Edge Academy in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Her experience includes exhibition planning and design, curatorial practice, gallery direction, installation, exhibition programming, and arts event planning and promotion. Her curatorial work includes exhibitions and programming for the Pratt Manhattan Graduate Communication Design Gallery, Brooklyn Contemporary Artist Space, the College for Creative Studies, and Girlee Detroit Contemporary.
STATEMENT
My paintings investigate subtle energetic bodies and the unseen forces that move through and around us. I am interested in how we construct meaning from what we experience and perceive. We are constantly taking in information and sensory experience, selecting what receives our attention and filtering it through memory, emotion, sensation, dreams, subconscious associations, and our individual patterns of perception. This involves multiple ways of seeing and knowing, including perceptual, intuitive, somatic, symbolic, visionary, and emotional experiences.
My paintings are reflections of what I pay attention to and how I respond to moments of beauty, nature, and emotional and sensory experience. As a neurodivergent artist, my perception is shaped by synesthetic, sensory, intuitive, and spiritual experiences. Painting allows me to investigate this way of perceiving and explore what exists beneath the visible. What do we notice, and why? Why do certain images, experiences, places, or moments move us? How do intuition and the subconscious shape what we see? What does our attention reveal about how we understand the world and ourselves?
I think of my paintings as psychological landscapes: interior spaces where memory, dreams, sensation, emotion, environment, and imagination interact and flow together. Each painting is an accumulation and synthesis of observation, memory, sensation, emotion, symbolic imagery, spiritual perception, and the physical process of painting.
My imagery emerges through an intuitive dialogue with materials. Working on the floor, I use water and gravity to direct watercolor, inks, and pigments across the canvas, allowing them to spread into fields of color, lines, shapes, stains, and organic edges. I observe and respond as spontaneous images and spatial relationships begin to emerge, shaped by both physical and psychic processes. I work into these forms with oil paint, allowing the image to interact with my memories, intuition, subconscious associations, and personal symbols. Symbolic imagery surfaces through this process, drawing from subconscious memory and collective consciousness.
The resulting paintings bring together fragmented and interconnected forms, layered spaces, organic shapes, symbols, emotional uses of color, and fluid spatial relationships that reflect the movement of thought and the ways experience is filtered and transformed within the mind. The canvas is a space where different ways of seeing and knowing can exist simultaneously: the inner and outer worlds, observation and intuition, representation and revelation, the personal and collective, the human and natural, the visible and invisible.
I approach painting as a spiritual practice and a space for exploring the metaphysical dimensions of existence. A near-death experience in 2020 deepened my inquiry into consciousness, the energetic body, and our interconnectedness with nature and one another. Since then, my work has continued to explore the numinous mysteries of existence and the ways spiritual, psychological, sensory, symbolic, and intuitive experiences shape our perception of reality.
When viewers encounter the paintings, they bring their own memories, sensations, emotions, associations, attention, and subconscious experiences into the work. I am interested in what they notice, why certain images, experiences, places, or moments move them, and how intuition and the subconscious shape what they see. The painting becomes another space in which these things can be filtered, synthesized, and transformed into meaning.
My work explores how our attention shapes our reality and seeks out interconnections between body, mind, nature, and cosmos.
CURATOR | ARTIST | EDUCATOR
Curator, artist, and educator with 26 years of experience across contemporary art, works on paper, exhibition development, art history, conservation, higher education, and collection advisory. Five years of focused curatorial practice in contemporary drawing and works on paper, complemented by hands-on experience in conservation, collections care, exhibition installation, and archival framing. Specializes in 20th- and 21st-century art, with particular interests in drawing, printmaking, artist books, materiality, color, and emerging artistic practices. Experienced in developing exhibitions from research and conceptualization through installation and public programming; conducting artist, collection, and market research; advising collectors on acquisitions; and producing interpretive, educational, and digital content. Brings a research-driven, interdisciplinary approach to contemporary art and its histories, with a commitment to expanding access through scholarship, teaching, exhibitions, and emerging technologies.
EDUCATION
MFA, Painting, Concentration in Art History Cranbrook Academy of Art | Bloomfield Hills, MI | 2005
BFA, Communication Design and Illustration, Honors College for Creative Studies | Detroit, MI | 2001
GALLERY DIRECTOR BKLYN Contemporary Art Space | Brooklyn, NY March 2025 - Present
Curate exhibitions of contemporary art, including focused presentations of drawing and works on paper.
Lead exhibition development from research,conceptualization, development, installation,, logistics, public programming.
Conduct ongoing research on contemporary artists, emerging practices, materials, and processes.
Develop relationships with artists, galleries, collectors, cultural organizations, and community partners to support exhibitions and collaborative projects.
Coordinate exhibition logistics, artwork handling, shipping, delivery, and client communications.
Manage exhibition calendars, gallery operations, visitor experience, and daily programming.
Develop digital content and audience strategies supporting access to exhibitions and contemporary art.
Organize educational programs, workshops, and public events that connect audiences with artists and exhibitions.
CURATORIAL & RESEARCH FOCUS
Contemporary Drawing | Works on Paper | Print-Based Practices | Artist Books & Publishing | Multiples | Materiality & Process | Contemporary Art | Collection Research & Acquisitions | Exhibition Development | Conservation & Object Care | Digital Interpretation | Emerging Artistic Practices
CURATOR & ART CONSULTANT Studio MH LLC | Brooklyn, NY January 2006 - Present
Advise private and institutional clients on 20th- and 21st-century art acquisitions, collection development, installation, presentation, and care.
Conduct sustained research on contemporary artists and artistic practices internationally, with particular expertise in drawing, works on paper, painting, color, and interdisciplinary practices.
Identify artists and works for acquisition based on artistic significance, historical context, emerging practices, collection objectives, and market research.
Build and maintain relationships with artists, galleries, collectors, designers, and cultural organizations in support of exhibitions, acquisitions, commissions, and collaborations.
Maintain artwork inventories and documentation and advise on collection management, presentation, and care.
Conduct market research on artists, pricing, and developments within the contemporary art field.
Incorporate digital platforms and emerging technologies, including AR/VR, to explore artwork placement, interpretation, and audience experience.
ADJUNCT ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, GRADUATE Studies Pratt Institute | Brooklyn, NY 2008 - Present
Teach graduate courses in contemporary art, art history, drawing, painting, printmaking, color, visual culture, materiality, publication, exhibition practice, and emerging technologies.
Develop curriculum integrating historical and contemporary art practices with material, technological, cultural, interdisciplinary research.
Teach research methodology, critical analysis, presentation, publication, exhibition development, professional practice.
Mentor graduate students through thesis research, exhibition development, professional practice, and critical review.
Develop lectures, visual presentations, and public-facing educational content for graduate and institutional audiences.
Teach historical and contemporary print and publication processes, including artist books, zines, and digital production.
Advise students on research, writing, exhibitions, presentations, and professional development.
Collaborate with Pratt’s Center for Teaching and Learning on faculty research, curriculum development, and institutional initiatives.
Serve on curriculum and research committees and contribute to institutional programming and academic development.
Authored grant proposals and developed faculty programming through the Center for Teaching and Learning.
Established a partnership with Gravity Sketch, securing VR equipment and developing a Student Ambassador program.
GALLERY DIRECTOR Pratt Institute Design Gallery | New York, NY January 2010 - December 2014
Directed gallery operations and curated exhibitions spanning contemporary art, design, and visual culture.
Developed exhibition concepts through research, planning, installation, interpretation, and public programming.
Managed exhibition budgets, vendors, production schedules, logistics, and installation.
Designed Pratt annual exhibitions and oversaw installation, lighting, artwork presentation, and visitor experience.
Developed artist talks, lectures, and educational programs engaging students, faculty, and external audiences.
Produced exhibition communications and interpretive materials, including wall texts, catalogs, and digital content.
Built institutional and community partnerships to expand exhibition visibility and audience engagement.
ASSISTANT CHAIRPERSON, GRADUATE COMMUNICATION DESIGN Pratt Institute | Brooklyn, NY January 2009 - December 2014
Designed and revised graduate curriculum in response to academic standards and evolving contemporary practices.
Advised and mentored graduate students on research, academic progress, exhibitions, and professional development.
Coordinated faculty, student, institutional, and external-partner initiatives involving academic events and exhibitions.
Supported research activities, grant development, exhibitions, and thesis programming.
DIRECTOR & EDUCATOR Artful Edge Academy | Brooklyn, NY January 2025 - Present
Direct arts education programming, curriculum development, workshops, and community partnerships.
Develop interdisciplinary curricula supporting creativity, critical thinking, and artistic development.
Manage program planning, budgets, staffing, schedules, and community events.
Mentor emerging artists through individualized instruction and portfolio development.
RESIDENT ARTIST Dean Street Studios | Brooklyn, NY January 2026 - Present
Maintain an active studio and research practice centered on drawing, watercolor, painting, cyanotype, artist books, paper, materiality, color, perception, and experimental image-making.
Develop an extensive body of drawings and sketchbooks spanning more than a decade, including immersive installation formats.
Conduct interdisciplinary research connecting artistic process, perception, consciousness, and neuroaesthetics.
Conduct literature reviews and synthesize research to identify questions and inform artistic and scholarly inquiry.
Engage with artists, galleries, collectors, exhibitions, publications, and the contemporary New York art community.
ART RESTORATION & CONSERVATION ASSISTANT Conservation and Museum Services | Detroit, MI January 1998 - December 2000
Conducted condition assessments of works on paper, paintings, and photographs and prepared objects for exhibition storage.
Prepared detailed condition reports documenting object condition, treatment, and materials.
Assisted conservators with cleaning, stabilization, minor inpainting, and restoration treatments.
Repaired tears and losses and prepared archival framing and housing for works on paper.
Assisted with historic mural conservation, including surface preparation, repair, repainting, documentation, and registration.
Collaborated with registrars, curators, and conservators on treatment plans and exhibition readiness.
Supported museum collections through examination, documentation, preservation, storage, handling, and display preparation.
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR College for Creative Studies | Detroit, MI May 2000 - April 2003
Developed and taught art and design curriculum integrating contemporary practice, art history, research, and interdisciplinary projects.
Created lectures, readings, assignments, workshops, and educational materials.
Conducted research in contemporary art and art education.
Collaborated with faculty on interdisciplinary projects and academic programming.
ART INSTRUCTOR Various Institutions | New York, NY 2005 - 2008
Taught art and visual culture programs for diverse audiences, including programs associated with the Brooklyn Museum, Cranbrook Academy of Art, and University of Michigan.
Developed interdisciplinary lessons connecting art, culture, nature, and creative practice.
Collaborated with educators to integrate visual arts into broader educational programming.
ART TEACHER, K-12 PS 21 / Studio in a School | New York, NY
Developed and taught visual arts curriculum for K-12 students, including color theory, design, drawing, and mixed-media practices.
Organized student exhibitions and museum and gallery visits.
Collaborated with administrators and educators on curriculum development.
ART INSTRUCTOR UrbanGlass | Brooklyn, NY January 2020 - Present
Teach drawing, design, glass, and material-based artistic practices through hands-on instruction.
Develop curriculum incorporating flame working, stained glass, kiln forming, fusing, casting, glass painting, cold working, sandblasting, etching, and mold making.
Mentor students through technical development, experimentation, and creative problem-solving.
SELECTED CURATORIAL & EXHIBITION HISTORY
2026 | Works on Paper: New Directions | BKLYN Contemporary Art Space
2026 | Urban Nature | BKLYN Contemporary Art Space
2026 | Time, Spirit Realm | St. Lydia’s, Brooklyn, NY | Curator: Matt Pfeffer
2024 | Divine Feminine | Kalner Gallery, New York, NY | Curator: Marina Granger
2021 | The 12 | XO Projects, Brooklyn, NY | Curator: Michelle Hinebrook
2020 | Factory Made | XO Projects, Brooklyn, NY
2018 | Faculty Exhibition | Pratt Institute | Curator: Nick Battis
2016 | Self Similarity in Math, Nature and Art | Hewitt Gallery of Art, New York, NY
2016 | Off the Grid | Edelman Gallery, New York, NY
2015 | Directors’ Choice | Center Galleries, Detroit, MI | Curator: Michelle Perron
2010 | WARP | Gallery Project, Ann Arbor, MI | Curator: Simone DeSouza
2009 | Spaces Between Spaces | Civilian Art Projects, Washington, DC
2008 | I Dream of Genomes | Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY
2006 | The Optical Edge | Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, NY | Curator: Robert Morgan
2005 | World Without End | McKenzie Fine Art, New York, NY
2005 | Selections | Cranbrook Museum of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI
2005 | The Next Big Thing | Museum of New Art, Pontiac, MI
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 | Urban Nature | BKLYN Contemporary Art Space
2018 | Michelle Hinebrook | Blacklist, New York, NY
2017 | Inner Light | Hallway Gallery, Seattle, WA
2016 | LTS Gallery | Brooklyn, NY
2016 | Off the Grid | Edelman Gallery, New York, NY
2014 | Art + Space | Pew Foundation for the Arts, Washington, DC
2010 | Gesture and Geometry | David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, MI
2010 | Color and Form | Maryland Center for the Arts, Annapolis, MD
2009 | Enveloped | Foley Gallery, New York, NY
2009 | Subtle Bodies | Helene Nyborg Contemporary, Denmark
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS & WRITING
Benjamin Genocchio, “Looking Into the World of Genomes,” The New York Times
Howie Kahn, “Enveloped,” Foley Gallery Catalogue Essay
Katarina Wong, “Off the Grid,” Edelman Catalogue Essay
Julie Karabenick, “Artist Feature: Michelle Hinebrook,” GeoForm
Jen Bekman, “Artist Collection: Michelle Hinebrook,” 20x200
John Coppola, “White/Black,” Nancy Margolis Gallery
Ann Telford, “Drawn Talent,” Step Magazine
Michelle Hinebrook, “Color Psychology and Its Expression,” International Color Association
Michelle Hinebrook, “Feminist and Surrealist Art Practices”
Michelle Hinebrook, “Kay Turner,” Painters on Painting
Additional publications and features include Art Maze Magazine, Timewheel, My Line and Color, East Hampton Star, GenArt Pulse, Apartment Therapy, NY Arts Magazine, Metrotimes Magazine, Detroit Free Press, Art News, Computer Arts Magazine, and Communication Arts Magazine: Design Annual.