Hollywood 3

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).

Clouds can be both a shield and a stage—softening what we don’t want to see, while turning disaster into spectacle. This series transforms climate data into luminous forms that dazzle at first glance but hold darker truths beneath the surface.

The imagery is drawn from temperature records of the January 2025 wildfires in California, which raged across Los Angeles and San Diego County from January 7–31. Dried grasses, a key factor in fueling the flames, are embedded into the prints as visual texture.

The title Hollywood nods to the swirl of misinformation that circulated during the crisis—viral images falsely showed the Hollywood sign burning, though it remained untouched. A nearly invisible layer of glittered plastic veils the work, recalling the shine and distraction of spectacle, even in catastrophe.