Michelle SaintOnge Business Timeline- Part 1

My Journey to Become an Independent Artist and Craftsperson.

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4

The Early Years

1973- My life began on December 30th, 1973, on a cold winter’s evening in Canada. Obviously anxious to arrive, I was born within 45 minutes of my mother arriving at the hospital. I was an only child for a mere 14 months before my brother was born and then there was the four of us. I grew up rich and privileged, not with money and possessions but with love and encouragement.  I have two wonderful parents that taught me to be curious and determined. I have the distinct memory from a very early age of being fearless in the face of challenge. These skills served me well when I went to school; I worked hard, tried new things, developed a thick skin in the face of disappointments and  learned a lot. 

1992- When it came time to go to University I wanted to pursue a career in animation but my parents thought it was a bit risky, since at that time there was almost no where in all of Canada to work as a paid animator, so I heeded their advice and went to the university where my mother worked.

I didn’t have real interest in any one particular subject so, like a lot of students, I chose psychology as my major. Luckily once I was fully immersed in the psychology program I came across the field of Ethology, which is the study of animal behavior psychology. That was right up my alley. I loved animals and the chance to study them at length without having to dissect them was exciting. I graduated with a four year degree in Animal Behavior Psychology. Unfortunately, there was also a lack of paid jobs or graduate programs in that field as well. Still determined to work in the field, I strategized to somehow work for the Walt Disney Company and their Animal Kingdom Park in Orlando Florida. Over the next four years I followed what I believed would be my path to work as an animal behaviorist and somehow the path led me down a different road. 

1998- Once I realized that my goal of working as an animal behaviorist for The Walt Disney Company wasn’t going to happen I started to explore other career options I might be interested in. I seemed to be good at a lot of things but nothing stood out to me as something I could be passionate about. Eventually, I ended up in a job I worked hard to get and was particularly proud to have in the film and television industry; assistant to the executive producer of a popular television series. As it would happen it wasn’t long before I realized that I no longer wanted to assist other people in pursuing their creative work- I wanted to create something of my own. 

1999- Once I realized I wanted to follow my dream of creating my own creative work I went back to art school. As it would happen I had outgrown my interest in becoming an animator like I had when I was a young child. My tastes had become more sophisticated. I had developed an interest in furniture design, born out of necessity really. I didn’t have the money to buy any new furniture much less furniture that I liked. So, the hand-me-downs I got from my parents were ripped apart and subsequently reconstructed and as new furniture I was proud to have. That inspired me to go back to art school and study furniture design. I was accepted into the Sheridan School of Craft and Design; a fabulous institution with amazing studio facilities. I was stoked to start learning everything I needed to know about how to design and build furniture. But, once again, I planned for one direction and life took a different turn. 

At Sheridan you are encouraged in your first year to take your primary studio, mine was furniture, and then a second studio, my choice was ceramics. A day before I was to begin taking ceramics one of the professors approached me and asked if I would be interested in switching into the textiles studio as my second studio choice. I had never really considered textiles as an option, frankly I didn’t even know you could have a career in ‘fabric’. But it was only my ‘second’ studio choice so I said “Sure, why the heck not”. And so a day later I found something I could be really passionate about. 

I had very few expectations for this textile studio so I was encouraged and surprised when I found out all the wonderful things the world of textiles could be. It seemed to suit me more than the furniture studio. Textiles combined so many of my interests; I could illustrate, work with the computer, and use my hands. It seemed that it was here that art, fashion and craft merged and that was hugely interesting to me. 

After officially changing my primary studio from furniture to textiles I spent the next two years learning everything I could about this craft. Silkscreening was the focus of the program and I fell in love with the process; it seemed the possibilities were endless. 

I considered silkscreening to be a lovely craft somewhere between painting and illustrating. I had also heard tell of people who freelance illustrated print and pattern for commercial textiles for a living. The idea of working for myself was intriguing. Unfortunately, my professors at the time had little experience in freelance design of commercial textiles so after I finished the program I started looking for a job where I could learn more about commercial textiles. 

Leaving school was just the beginning of my eduction. Life had much more to teach me.

Continue on to part 2…