Michelle Teear - Artist
Michelle Teear is a contemporary Australian painter working in egg tempera using classical paint making techniques. Working from her memory of place and tapping into emotions rooted in the unconscious, her paintings straddle a space between the tangible landscapes she travels to and her interior emotional dialogue. The landscape offers both a sanctuary in which to meditate on internal narratives, often embodying trauma, queer and disabled identity, and acts as a stage for her to embed internal narratives into painting. The history of a location will inform the direction of her internal emotional investigations and her approach to the work. Her work offers a hybrid presentation of the artists experience of moving between her inner and outer consciousness of the world and herself.
Michelle’s process is based on traditional approaches to En plein air landscape painting. She engages with sparse remote landscapes on research trips, living in the landscape as an immersive experience. These studies inform studio-based works where the external landscape is interpreted within the framework of her inner dialogue.
Michelle makes her own egg tempera using the techniques of the European masters. She allows the thin applications of egg tempera to splash or drip down the board. Layers of thin paint are built up to reflect a depth of colour.
Michelle recently completed a mentorship with senior Australian artist Virginia Cuppaidge, as part of the Newcastle Art Space Mentorship Program. Her work was shortlisted for the Evelyn Chapman award in 2020, and the Newcastle Club Foundation Prize 2022 and 2023. She completed a residency at Bundanon Trust in 2020, with the support of Accessible Arts, and is a 2023 graduate of the Front and Centre Leadership program for women with disability in the arts. She is a disability advocate and educator for the arts sector.
View her first exhibition at Straitjacket here (2022) and her second exhibition here (2024) and her third exhibition here (2026). Michelle has been represented by Straitjacket since 2022 and by Gallery 139 from August 2029.
Michelle’s intuitive mark-making explores awareness beyond the dissociative states of navigating inequitable social structures. As a queer disabled woman, her remote landscape subjects represent freedom from marginalising frameworks, creating neutral spaces to anchor perspective. Her calm, looping marks support nervous system regulation and resilience. She grinds earth pigments, mixed with egg, to create the timeless, translucent medium of egg tempera. Michelle has been a finalist in prizes including the Evelyn Chapman Award, Mosman, Paddington, Fisher’s Ghost, and MAC Yapang, and has completed numerous residencies including Mornington and Bundanon. Represented by Straitjacket and a disability rights advocate, she lives and works on Awabakal Country, Newcastle, Australia.
