Wild Relics - Michelle Bracewell - First Friday at the MAC
Schedule
Fri Mar 06 2026 at 05:00 pm to 08:00 pm
UTC-07:00Location
513 Manitou Ave, Manitou Springs, CO, United States, Colorado 80829 | Manitou Springs, CO
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You’re warmly invited to the opening of Wild Relics at the Manitou Art Center’s Hagnauer Gallery on March 6th, featuring the transformative mixed media work of Michelle Bracewell.
Through layered abstract painting and sculptural construction, Bracewell creates works that are “narrative-rich and reward close viewing,” balancing “grit and glamour, humor and tenderness.”
Join us for an evening of art and conversation as Wild Relics proves that “the past isn’t finished, it’s fuel.”
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Artist Statement
Michelle Bracewell is a mixed media artist creating freestanding sculpture and dimensional wall works. Her process begins with timeworn materials and found elements, which she transforms through paint, clay, layered surface treatment, and meticulous construction. Rooted in reinvention, her work honors the history carried by worn materials while pushing them into unexpected new roles.
Since debuting her work at the 2022 Santa Fe Recycle Show, where she won first place, Bracewell has earned another award, been featured in the Colorado Springs Gazette, KOAA (NBC), and Shout Out Colorado, and had a piece acquired by the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum for its 50 Percent of Creatives permanent exhibit.
Balancing grit and glamour, humor and tenderness, her pieces are narrative-rich and reward close viewing. Her current body of work, Wild Relics, integrates layered abstract painting with sculptural construction, creating works that feel both bold and deeply considered.
Artist Biography
I work in mixed media, creating freestanding sculpture and dimensional wall works that begin with timeworn materials and found elements. I’m drawn to objects with history, but I’m not interested in keeping them where they started. Transformation is the point.
Through paint, clay, layered surface treatment, and meticulous construction, I push materials into unexpected new roles until a new narrative takes shape. Many pieces also incorporate layered abstract painting, which sets the tone and energy of the work. It isn’t background. It’s a living surface that holds motion, mood, and tension alongside dimensional form.
Wild Relics brings together grit and glamour, humor and tenderness, building work that rewards close looking. The details are intentional, the materials are chosen for their history, and the final pieces are meant to feel both bold and deeply considered, proving the past isn’t finished, it’s fuel.
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Where is it happening?
513 Manitou Ave, Manitou Springs, CO, United States, Colorado 80829Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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