Michele Cokl Naylor: May 2020

About the Artist

A fearless color palette defines the work of Michele Cokl Naylor. She uses bold, vivid and seductive hues to prompt a reaction or to provoke a mood. Color, textures and unexpected patterns are the language she employs across a range of media. She makes hats, designs greeting cards, and works in mixed media.

She loves finding unusual old photographs and creates wry observations on our contemporary lives for her greeting cards. When she works on canvas, color and texture guide her choices. She employs acrylic paints, inks, pencils, pastels, fabric and paper to create unique mixed media pieces.

Michele has taken classes from acclaimed milliners and began making hats after retiring as a court clerk in 2015. The art of making a hat reconnects her to a different era. She often utilizes vintage blocks, the same ones used by past generations of hat makers who were creating fashion icons. There was a time when almost no one would leave the house without a hat. In her own small way, Michele tries to recapture some of that lost style, while adding her own modern flourishes. Because honestly, the world is a happier place when people wear hats.

Michele lives in Cottonwood, Arizona with her husband, Roger, and a gang of color-coordinated cats.

- Michele Cokl Naylor

Sunday, May 31, 2020

New Mixed Media