MEET
MICHELLE GRAZNAK
Michelle Graznak is a Detroit-based, award-winning, multi-disciplinary artist whose work explores the spaces of personal identity, social consciousness, and spiritual reflection.
Born in Canada to first-generation parents and raised in a French-speaking home, Michelle carries the legacy of her grandparents, who left Ukraine/Poland before World War I. Through her upbringing and life experiences, her art navigates literal and metaphorical crossings between worlds, geographical, cultural, and emotional states of mind.
From a young age, she developed a deep awareness of the world around her, observing others, exploring spirituality, and seeking to find meaning amid life's contradictions. As a young child, Michelle learned to translate her curiosity and questions into her work, blending resonant elements and embracing diverse stories.
Michelle holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in photography, drawing, and metalsmithing from Eastern Michigan University. She also earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University, Montreal, with a concentration in photography, and has taught art at the elementary, high school, and college level across the United States.
Working across mixed media, including acrylic and encaustic painting, wood, metal, photography, found materials, and video, Michelle creates textured installations that invite reflection on what it means to be human within systems of belief, power, and belonging. Her art sheds light on issues such as migration, mental illness, racism, and empathy, with a mission to challenge boundaries, spark dialogue, and inspire change.
Michelle's art serves as a gateway to reconciliation between the self and society, faith and fragility. It encourages viewers to pause, feel, and think while finding beauty in the complexities of modern life and seeing the threads that connect us.
EXHIBITIONS
2025
Lasting Impressions
Cooperstown Art Association, Cooperstown, NY
Encaustic Painting
Fall of Freedom
Playground Detroit Gallery,
Detroit, MI
Charcoal and Pastel Drawing
2024
Women’s Liberation
Swords Into Plowshares
33 East Adams, Detroit, MI
Watercolor and Collage
2023
A Natural Language Search. (part of Unraveling Racism)
INIA Gallery, at the Weber Center, Adrian, MI
Fiber and Video Installation, Artists Discussion w/ Adrian NAACP
2021
Artscape and Pocket Sized
Downriver Council for the Arts, Wyandotte, MI
Encaustic Paintings
Liberty and Justice for All
Stola Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Charcoal and Pastel Drawing
ArtPrize
Fountain Street Church Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI
Charcoal and Pastel Drawing
2020
Art Against Race: Memorial.Monument.Movement
Virtual Livestream, by Rhinhold Ponder and Judith Brodsky, Rutgers University, Princeton, NJ
Fiber and Video Installation
New Jersey Book Arts Symposium
of 2020 Virtual Gallery Exhibit and Symposium of 2020
Virtual Gallery Exhibit Symposium Panelist, Princeton, NJ
Fiber and Video Installation
2019
Unraveling Racism: Seeing White 22 North Gallery Ypsilanti, MI
Norwest Gallery, Detroit, MI
Fiber and Video Installation
citizenSHIP by Women’s Council for the Arts Riverside Arts Ctr,
Ypsilanti, MI
Encaustic Painting
2017
Wax Poetic
Fabulon Gallery, Charleston, SC
Encaustic Painting
2015
Farmington Hills City Hall Gallery (Solo Exhibit)
Group Show and “People’s Choice Award” Solo Show,
Farmington Hills, MI
Various Mediums
2012
Damned V: An Exhibition of Enlightened Darkness Tangent Gallery, Detroit, MI
Acrylic and Mixed Media Painting
2004
The Eloise Cemetery Show Downriver Council for the Arts,
Taylor, MI
Digitally Manipulated Color Photo
2003
Downriver Art Teachers Exhibit Downriver Council for the Arts,
Taylor, MI
Multi-media Installation
1995
Visions Corporelles -2 (Solo Exhibit) 629 Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Multi-media Installation
1994
Visions Corporelles -1 (Solo Exhibit)
403 Belgoe Gallery, Montreal, QC
Multi-media Installation
Alternative Art in El Paso
ArtSpace 2300, El Paso, TX
Multi-media Installation
Artists and Writers Collaborate
Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, TX
Black and White Photographic Prints
1991
Mois de la Photo Gallerie Bourget Montreal, QC
Black and White Photographic Prints
1989
Demolished by Neglect Urban Center for Photography,
Detroit, MI
Site-Specific Installation including Black and White Photo Murals
Detroit Images
Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI
Black and White Photographic Prints
1986
Detroit Photography Project
Urban Center for Photography, Detroit, MI
Black and White Photographic Prints
City Limits
Center for Photography, Detroit, MI
Black and White Photographic Prints
Color Photography
Detroit Artists’ Market, Detroit, MI
Hand-Colored Black and White Photographic Prints
1981
On Spirituality and Being (Solo Exhibit) University of Michigan Commons Gallery, North Campus, Ann Arbor, MI
Black and White Photographic Prints
