Patricia Michaels

Last updated
Patricia Michaels
Born1966 (age 57–58)
New Mexico, U.S.
Nationality Pueblo of Taos, [1] American
Education Institute of American Indian Arts
Chicago Art Institute
Known for Native American fashion, textile arts
Notable workTantoo in Flight (2023) [2]
PartnerJames Duran [3]
AwardsNew Mexico's Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts (2023) [4]
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Living Treasure (2024) [1]
Website www.patricia-michaels.com

Patricia Michaels (born 1966, New Mexico) is a Native American fashion designer who works under the fashion label PM Waterlily. She is a citizen of the Pueblo of Taos. [1]

Contents

Michaels was the first Native American to appear on the popular fashion design-focused television series, Project Runway . A finalist on season 11, [1] she returned to compete in Project Runway All Stars . [5] She has exhibited across the United States and internationally, including in South Africa and New Zealand. [6]

Early life and education

Patricia Michaels was born in 1966 [7] in New Mexico to Eddie Michaels (Polish-American) and Juanita Turley (Taos Pueblo). [8] Her stepfather, Frank Turley, was a blacksmith. [8] She grew up on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where her parents owned an art gallery. [6] She often visited Taos Pueblo and, as a teenager, moved there to live with her maternal grandparents, [3] Ben and Manuelita Marcus. [8]

Dyslexia made schoolwork challenging for Michaels, [9] but she graduated from Santa Fe High School. In 1985, she apprenticed in costume design at the Santa Fe Opera. [6] She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, where she joined the fashion collective "Native Uprising", led by instructor Wendy Ponca (Osage). [9] [10] IAIA co-founder Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee Nation [11] ) told Michaels, "First Santa Fe and then Paris!" [8] After IAIA, she went on to study at New's alma mater, the Chicago Art Institute. [9]

In 2001, Michaels traveled to Milan, Italy, where she apprenticed with a tailor. [6] She then moved to New York with her two young children. [6]

Fashion career

Through PM Waterlily, Michaels creates ready-to-wear fashion, couture fashion, jewelry, and accessories. [1] She specializes in hand-painted silks. [1]

At the 2010 Santa Fe Indian Market, Michaels won best of the textiles classification with a contemporary design which was seen as "a new Native chic." [9] This local breakthrough paved the way for her 2013 participation in Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. [9]

In March 2015, Michaels took part in the Stars of Project Runway fashion show during Fashion Week El Paseo. [12] In September 2016, Michaels held a fashion show of her work at New York Fashion Week. [13] Some of Michaels' designs were featured in the 2017 SWAIA Haute Couture Fashion Show in August 2017. [14] Later that year, she was one of ten designers to represent the United States at World Fashion Week, Paris 2017. [14]

In 2023, Michaels designed a dress, titled "Tantoo in Flight", for Canadian actress Tantoo Cardinal to wear to the premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. [2] [15] [16] The dress, which was inspired by men's eagle headdresses, featured eagle feathers on the skirt. [17] Cardinal wore the dress again for the Santa Fe Indian Market Gala in August of that year. [18] In April 2024, Michaels took part in the first SWAIA Native Fashion Week in Santa Fe. [1] [17] [19]

Project Runway

Michaels became the first Native American designer to participate in Project Runway, an Emmy Award-winning reality television in which diverse fashion designers compete against each other. [1] She competed in Project Runway season 11, which aired in 2013, and was runner-up.

In 2014, Michaels returned to the show for Project Runway All Stars . [3] [5] Her appearance on the show helped expose new audiences to Native American fashion. [9]

Visual art

In 2019, Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), New Mexico's first Native congresswoman, now Secretary of the Interior, commissioned Michaels to design a chair as part of the "A Seat at the Table" art installation at the Edward Kennedy Institute in Massachusetts. [20]

In 2020, Michaels took part in a project organized by Naomi Campbell, in which artists created face masks to raise money for charities. [20]

Awards and honors

In 2013, Taos named Michaels the Citizen of the Year, [5] and in 2014, the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian gave her their inaugural Arts and Design Award. [21] The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation chose Michaels to deliver the keynote address of their Millennium Scholars Program in 2016. [22]

In 2023, Michaels received New Mexico's Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. [4] The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture named Michaels a Living Treasure in 2024. [1]

Personal life

She married painter Tony Abeyta (Navajo), whom she divorced in 2008. [8] The couple has two children: a son, Gabriel Abeyta, and a daughter, Margeaux Abeyta, [23] both of whom are also artists. [4] After living in Santa Fe for years, she moved back to Taos Pueblo in 2023, [4] where she lives with her partner James Duran. [3]

Selected exhibitions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taos art colony</span> Art colony founded in Taos, New Mexico, United States

The Taos art colony was an art colony founded in Taos, New Mexico, by artists attracted by the culture of the Taos Pueblo and northern New Mexico. The history of Hispanic craftsmanship in furniture, tin work, and other mediums also played a role in creating a multicultural tradition of art in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute of American Indian Arts</span> Public tribal college in Santa Fe, New Mexico, US

The Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) is a public tribal land-grant college in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. The college focuses on Native American art. It operates the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), which is housed in the historic Santa Fe Federal Building, a landmark Pueblo Revival building listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Federal Building. The museum houses the National Collection of Contemporary Indian Art, with more than 7,000 items.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Fe Indian Market</span> Annual art fair of Indigenous art

The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) organizes the market, showcasing work from 1,200 of the top Native American artists from tribes across the country.

Nora Naranjo Morse is a Native American artist and poet. She currently resides in Española, New Mexico just north of Santa Fe and is a member of the Santa Clara Pueblo, part of the Tewa people. Her work can be found in several museum collections including the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, the Minneapolis Institute of Art in Minnesota, and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC, where her hand-built sculpture piece, Always Becoming, was selected from more than 55 entries submitted by Native artists as the winner of an outdoor sculpture competition held in 2005. In 2014, she was honored with a NACF Artist Fellowship for Visual Arts and was selected to prepare temporal public art for the 5x5 Project by curator Lance Fung.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santa Fe, New Mexico</span> Capital city of New Mexico, United States

Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the fourth-most populous city in the state, and part of the Albuquerque–Santa Fe–Los Alamos combined statistical area, which had a population of 1,162,523 in 2020. Situated at the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the city is at the highest altitude of any U.S. state capital, with an elevation of 7,199 feet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pop Chalee</span> American painter

Pop Chalee, also known as Merina Lujan, was an American painter, muralist, performer, and singer. In 2021, she was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Miles</span> American painter

Douglas Miles is a White Mountain Apache-San Carlos Apache-Akimel O'odham painter, printmaker and photographer from Arizona, who founded Apache Skateboards and Apache Skate Team.

Tammy Garcia is a Santa Clara Pueblo sculptor and ceramic artist. Garcia translates Pueblo pottery forms and iconography into sculptures in bronze and other media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramona Sakiestewa</span> Hopi Native American artist

Ramona Sakiestewa is a contemporary Hopi Native American artist who lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Sakiestewa is renowned for her tapestries, works on paper, public art, and architectural installations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeri Ah-be-hill</span>

Jeri Ah-be-hill was a Kiowa fashion expert and art dealer. She owned and operated a trading post on the Wind River Indian Reservation for more than twenty years before moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she became the curator of the annual Native American Clothing Contest held at the Santa Fe Indian Market. She also worked as a docent at both the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. Considered an expert on Native American fashion, she traveled nationally presenting educational information about tribal clothing.

Wendy Ponca is an Osage artist, educator, and fashion designer noted for her Native American fashion creations. From 1982 to 1993, she taught design and Fiber Arts courses at the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) of Santa Fe and later taught at the University of Las Vegas. She won first place awards for her contemporary Native American fashion from the Santa Fe Indian Market each year between 1982 and 1987. Her artwork is on display at IAIA, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Philbrook Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Native American fashion</span>

Native American fashion is the design and creation of high-fashion clothing and fashion accessories by Native Americans in the United States. This is a part of a larger movement of Indigenous fashion of the Americas.

Zoë Marieh Urness is a photographer of Alaskan Tlingit and Cherokee Native American heritage. She creates portraits of modern Indigenous cultures in traditional regalia and settings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose B. Simpson</span> Mixed-media artist

Rose B. Simpson is a Tewa sculptor of Khaʼpʼoe Ówîngeh is a mixed-media artist who works in ceramic, metal, fashion, painting, music, performance, and installation. She lives and works in Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico. Her work has been exhibited at SITE Santa Fe ; the Heard Museum ; the Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe (2010); the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian (2008); the Denver Art Museum; Pomona College Museum of Art (2016); Ford Foundation Gallery (2019); The Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian (2017); the Minneapolis Institute of Art (2019); the Savannah College of Art and Design (2020); the Nevada Museum of Art (2021); Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Norton Museum of Art (2024).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christine McHorse</span> Ceramics artist of Navajo descent (1948–2021)

Christine McHorse, also known as Christine Nofchissey McHorse, was a Navajo ceramic artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Susan Folwell is a Native American artist from Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, known for her work in the ceramic industry. Her work ties in Native designs and history and has been used by Folwell to demonstrate her viewpoints on society and politics. Folwell has been described by the Heard Museum as an "innovator in Pueblo pottery".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Garcia (artist)</span>

Jason Garcia is a contemporary Native American artist in the United States, who was born in Santa Clara, New Mexico. His work has been exhibited the Smithsonian in Washington D.C, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Palm Springs Art Museum, and many more. He won the 2018 Mentor Fellowship Award under the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation amongst many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loren Aragon</span> Native American fashion designer

Loren Aragon is a Native American fashion designer from Acoma Pueblo whose work is inspired by Acoma pottery and culture. His ACONAV couture brand is known for its asymetrical designs, patterns and materials such as silk and leather that blend cultural ideas with modern silhouettes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lynnette Haozous</span> Native American artist

Lynnette Haozous a Native American painter, printmaker, jeweler, writer, and actor. She is an enrolled member of the San Carlos Apache Tribe and of Chiricahua Apache, Navajo, and Taos Pueblo ancestry. Haozous works in acrylics, watercolors, spray paint, jewelry, screen-printing, writing, and acting on stage and in film. She is known for her murals and uses a blend of art and advocacy to bring attention to social conditions and injustices.

Ursala Hudson is an Alaska Native textile artist, graphic designer, and fashion designer. She also photographs and paints. She creates Chilkat weaving, including dance regalia, belts, collars, and earrings.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Dávila, Ungelbah (2024-04-26). "Patricia Michaels' material world". Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  2. 1 2 Robinson, Lynne (2023-06-08). "Flower Moons and Water Lilies: Patricia Michaels goes to Cannes". The Taos News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Jusinski, Charlotte (25 April 2018). "Trojan Clothes Horse". SF Reporter. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Robinson, Lynne (2023-08-15). "Patricia Michaels receives the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts". The Taos News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Patricia Michaels: Bringing Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives". The Fralin Museum of Art. University of Virginia. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Cunningham, Elizabeth (2011). "Patricia Michaels, Fashion Designer". Remarkable Women of Taos. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  7. ↑ "A Letter to the Colby Museum by Patricia Michaels". Colby Museum of Art. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Livingston, Joan (2013-10-09). "Citizen of the Year: Patricia Michaels". The Taos News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Barbaro, Theresa (Fall 2013). "Kiva New to Project Runway: Natives Make Their Own Fashion Statement". American Indian. 14 (3). Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  10. ↑ Jacobs, Alex (13 September 2018). "Live From the 'Project Runway' Premiere With Patricia Michaels". ICT News. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  11. ↑ "Desert Motif". National Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Smithsonian. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  12. ↑ Pena, Xochitl (2015-03-25). "'Project Runway' stars show designs during Fashion Week". The Desert Sun. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  13. ↑ Root, Leeanne (2018-09-13). "Patricia Michaels Brings Her Native, High-Energy Fashion Show to New York". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  14. 1 2 Madeson, Frances (2018-09-13). "Great Native Designs at the SWAIA Haute Couture Fashion Show". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  15. ↑ Schulman, Sandra Hale (2023-10-05). "'Tantoo in Flight' brings new acclaim to Taos Pueblo fashion designer". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  16. ↑ Allaire, Christian (2023-05-22). "The Killers of the Flower Moon Cast Spotlighted Indigenous Design at Cannes". Vogue. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  17. 1 2 "Groundbreaking fashion show spotlights work of Indigenous designers". PBS News. 2024-07-11. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  18. ↑ Benallie, Kalle (2023-08-22). "Indigenous fashion celebrated at Santa Fe Indian Market gala". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  19. ↑ Cabe, Caroline (2024-04-05). "Meet The Designers Of The Inaugural SWAIA Native Fashion Week". Cowboys and Indians Magazine. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  20. 1 2 Robinson, Lynne (2020-06-03). "Patricia Michaels makes more than masks". The Taos News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  21. ↑ "Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in New York Celebrates 20th Anniversary". Smithsonian Institution. 2014-10-27. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  22. ↑ Jacobs, Alex (2018-09-13). "Michaels, Morningsong, Judd: Great Native Artists Honored in 2016". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  23. ↑ "Illustrations by Margeaux Abeyta". Colby Museum of Art. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  24. ↑ "Native Fashion Now". Portland Art Museum. 2016. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  25. ↑ "Native Fashion Now". Peabody Essex Museum. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  26. ↑ Clark, Virginia (2024-04-22). "Patricia Michael's timeless vision". The Taos News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  27. ↑ "Painted by Hand: The Textiles of Patricia Michaels". Museum of Indian Arts + Culture. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.