Michelle Atkinson- Jasper

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).

Data, like memory, can hold gaps. This work begins with temperature records from before and after the 2024 Jasper wildfire, but none during the blaze itself. Whether the monitoring station was destroyed or simply abandoned remains uncertain—a silence that mirrors the rupture left behind.

The wildfire ignited on July 22, 2024, after lightning strikes set multiple blazes in motion. By September 7 it was declared “Under Control,” no longer spreading but leaving the town’s surrounding forests scorched. The imagery here draws from photographs of Jasper’s aftermath: trees blackened and fragile, yet still standing.

The palette softens the severity while holding its tension, a mix of loss and quiet resilience.