Artists of Note | Michelle Jung

Expressive seascapes and landscapes

Michelle Jung, Asilomar Sunset, oil, 24 x 30.

This story was featured in the September 2014 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art September 2014 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story!

Michelle Jung didn’t start oil painting until she was 40 years old, but a creative way of life has always come naturally to her. The landscape and seascape painter remembers watching cartoons as a child and drawing the figures she saw on the TV. Art was never a conscious decision but rather a part of everyday life. Her talent “was obvious from a young age,” Jung remembers. “In elementary school I won awards for drawing. And in high school I didn’t even join the art club, they just put me in there. It’s been around my entire life as an interest.”

After high school Jung received her bachelor’s degree in art history from Colorado State University, and she worked as a greeting-card artist and a gallery sales assistant in Denver before moving to California and setting aside art to run a start-up in Silicon Valley for 10 years. After her hiatus, she began to look seriously at fine art as a career and take classes and workshops. For the last 14 years she has worked on her impressionistic style, inspired by breathtaking coastal scenes and grand mountain vistas. Last year she earned her master’s degree in fine art from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. “I grew up in coastal Connecticut and live in Northern California, so the dramatic ocean scenes are very inspiring,” Jung says. “But I also lived in the West for seven years, and I’m drawn to the majestic mountain skies. I’m looking for that feeling of power, those places where people stop and go ‘wow, that’s awesome.’ I love that type of 
composition.” —Joe Kovack

Michelle Jung is represented by Mountainsong Galleries, Carmel, CA.

Featured in the September 2014 issue of Southwest Art magazine–click below to purchase:
Southwest Art September 2014 print issue or digital download Or subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss a story!