Art for Art's Sake: Artist Stories From Sfingiday's Local Art Program

“The thesis is that art is not just painting, writing, singing – art can be found in all of life.”

Michele Park

What do vibrant watercolors, jovial animals, and witty titles have in common? If you were to ask any one of us at Sfingiday, we would reply with “Michele Park” or “Wicked Smart Crow.”

A newer artist to our shop and a participant of our Seattle Local Art Program, Park has quickly become one of our favorites. Between Park’s precious animal paintings, prints, and gleeful cards, she has brought a sense of joy to the shop and the program.

As for Park’s artistic journey, she began at an early age. As a child, Park was told she had artistic talent, but she explained that, with work, kids, and other responsibilities, life got busy. After nearly 55 years of putting art on pause, Park experienced a second wind of inspiration after talking with a coworker about their pottery. 

“But just in the last few years, the last three or four years, I just thought, ‘oh I’m gonna dab in a little bit.’ I took some community college classes and then just have kept going,” Park said. 

After retiring from working as a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurse for 36 years, Park has “a little more time to actually explore it (art) even more.”

She started taking charcoal drawing classes at a community college before considering pottery. Park realized that pottery would take up too much time, so she transitioned to taking watercolor classes. 

Park started in “a couple of little online classes, you know, somebody would do it. I’d do a two- or three-hour thing here and there. And then just kinda went from there.” 

The subject of Park’s work came about after she realized she could paint the family’s pets. What started as a sweet gesture for Park’s loved ones turned into a real passion, despite holding the belief that working with animals as a subject would be out of Park’s league. 

“Well, you know, it was the pets, of course, there was always that love in there,” Park said. “And so that’s kind of how it started, I just started painting our animals, our family animals.”

She chooses titles like “Doritos Picnic” and “Quizzical Goose,” which are inspired by Park’s sense of humor. 

“It’s me, I think it’s just my jam. Something goofy. You know, like, ‘Canada Side Eye,’” Park said. “It’s gotta have a little attitude for me to want to paint it.”

There’s more to what inspires Park to create art. She believes everyone is producing art at all times. According to Park, even the little things and actions can be art. 

“When I was a nurse, taking care of those babies and taking care of their families, and how I did that, I was always being creative and coming up with new ways to approach how I would do that, and I always considered that art,” Park said. “How I do my garden, how I paint my walls in my house… for me, I feel like I’ve always been creating.”

“The thesis is that art is not just painting, writing, singing – art can be found in all of life.” Park said.

Beyond that, Park finds happiness when she tries to create something new, and it finally clicks in Park’s mind. One of Park’s most recent originals, “Bunny Snack Time,” took six separate attempts to get the painting’s subject, a rabbit, just right before Park was satisfied with the result. After having the a-ha moment, Park recalls the feeling art evokes. 

“It grounds us, it’s something that we can share with other people. I just think it’s a great thing, and I think we should all do more. More creative, more endeavors,” Park said. “It brings beauty into the world and into your soul.”

Park’s work has been at Sfingiday for a few months now. Park’s friend, Jill, and a beloved regular of Sfingiday, originally prompted Park to look into selling some work at the shop.

Despite being retired, Park’s art journey is just getting started. She’s not sure where the adventure goes from here, but Park is certain about one thing. She wants everyone to know “that I’m old but I’m not old and that you can keep going forever. You can keep growing. There’s gonna be new paths all the time if you’ll just be vulnerable to it.”

Written by Cori Caplinger