Michelle Barillaro is an abstract painter based in Knoxville, TN. She works with a wide variety of mediums and enjoys discovering new ways to bring her work to life.

Michelle Barillaro was born in Gainesville, FL. She moved down to South Florida just a short time later and essentially grew up on the beach. Her love for the saturated colors and tranquility of this tropical environment was deeply instilled. Michelle was also drawn to the built environment. She moved to Tennessee to attend the UT School of Architecture in Knoxville. After completing her degree in architecture, Michelle stayed in East Tennessee and absorbed its natural beauty, which was very different from Florida.

Michelle always enjoyed art classes offered at school, getting creative at home, and the occasional art workshop outside of school. In college she took multiple ceramics courses, in addition to honing her sketching and drawing skills related to architecture. It wasn’t until 2017 that Michelle took an 8-week evening workshop on mixed media at her local community art center that the passion for creating — specifically painting — was reignited. The time was right: she had studio space, an almost adult daughter so more free time, and support from friends and family.

Abstracts have always been a constant. At a young age for Michelle, that meant photographing that unique collage of found objects or seemingly mundane images most people overlooked. When she traveled, Michelle bought abstract art. She was given an abstract painting from her grandmother because no one else wanted it. And now abstracts — those that feel soft and moody, those that are linear and architectural, those that are suggestive of a sea or landscape — are what Michelle paints. The colors of Florida are very recognizable, as are the suggestion of the hills of Tennessee. Michelle finds personal pleasure in abstracts because they allow the viewer to see something in them related to their own personal experiences and dreams. This is often an interpretation unique to that of the artist. She prefers to paint on wood, with acrylics or oil & cold wax. Each medium lends itself to different techniques for layering and subtracting paint with household tools and brushes until the perfect composition is realized.