Fairy Forest

Michelle Atkinson is an internationally awarded multidisciplinary artist who creates contemporary artwork based on the environment and humanity’s effect on it. Atkinson earned a graphic design diploma (NMPD’03 with honours) from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Canada with which she has garnered international acclaim and over 30 awards. She was published in Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine (’19) for her copper electroforming work. She is the only person to win the Made in Alberta Awards (Avenue magazine) three times in three categories over three years (’19, ’21, ’22). Recently she obtained grants from both the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (’22) and the Canadian Council for the Arts (’21) for a yearlong installation work at the Leighton Art Centre (’23). Atkinson also donates her time yearly to the Rotary Club of Heritage Park’s Second Chance Art Sale and reclaims broken picture frame glass as part of her practice. Atkinson’s first large-scale permanent public art piece was unveiled as the entrance to the newly designed Wild Canada section of the Calgary Zoo (’23). Her most recent art commission for the Calgary Stampede’s corporate art collection can be found in the newly renovated BMO Centre (’24).

Not all stories of fire are told in smoke and ash. Fairy Forest reimagines the data of the 2024 Jasper wildfire through a lens of enchantment—softened, sweetened, and cloaked in fantasy.

Here, climate records are reshaped into curving, sparkling forms that swirl like a magic spell. Actual cloud imagery drifts across the composition, disguising the severity of the fire beneath a veneer of wonder. The work points to how far we have drifted as a society, preferring fairy tales over difficult truths.

Childlike hues of inky purple and green heighten the playful façade. But behind the glittering surface, the reality of devastation remains, asking viewers to question what we choose to see—and what we choose to ignore.