Quincy Gray McMichael was born to curious and creative parents in the western woods of Maine. She studied Human Ecology, Permaculture, and Foodways at College of the Atlantic, Antioch and Prescott Colleges, and Le Cordon Bleu London.
Love of food and farming brought her to West Virginia, where she has family ties, in 2010. Quincy has spent the past several years raising rare livestock and perennial edibles on her farm, Vernal Vibe Rise, on Moneton ancestral land. The ethic of balance within this permaculture farm system indirectly encouraged her to start painting again in early 2016.
Quincy was accepted as a Juried Artist into Tamarack‘s ‘The Best of West Virginia’ in December 2019. Her paintings can be seen in galleries such as Alison Pottery in Marlinton, The Burner Homeplace Gallery in Cass, and in private homes across West Virginia and beyond.
I make zero-waste art with found canvas, recycled latex paint, and intuitive patterns.
I began painting as an intentional siesta from my very physical farm work, and continue to enjoy it as a form of productive meditation.
I find serenity in the feeling of pulling wet paint over wood, the complexity of creating a matrix of color, and the satisfaction of seeing these patterns coalesce into an intricate system.