It’s hard to believe that Hoboken resident Michelle Doll, who works at the Neumann Leathers factory buildings, only started painting 10 years ago. But, with a background in drawing, the Cleveland, Ohio native has been in the arts all her life. “Now,” Doll says, “I’m drawing with my paintbrush.”
Her works are breathtaking and often provocative images of the everyday: a woman getting dressed, or standing nude by the window. Although Doll insists her paintings are not self-portraits, her own body is a starting point for her work. “They don’t always end up looking much like me,” Doll said.
After receiving a master’s degree in fine art from the New York Academy, Doll and her 13-year-old son having been living in Hoboken for the past five years. Doll teaches children to paint out of her studio in the Neumann Leathers building (as well as at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and is constantly commissioned by local art enthusiasts. Her works have been viewed in exhibitions from New York to London to the French West Indies.
To see more of Doll’s work, please visit: www.michelledoll.com .
Favorite painter/Influences:
“The Spanish painter David Valesquez is really amazing. He has such a freedom with his brush. Other [more rigid] works stop me from entering the painting. But, he says a lot with a single brush stroke.”
Many of your paintings are self portraits. What is you process like?
“I use myself as a starting point – they don’t always end up looking like me, but I’m evoking an emotion. I like my work to be sort of ambiguous because I want the viewer to ask questions and to be able to come to their own conclusions. Sometimes, I listen to historical biographies when I’m painting. Just the other day, I listened to Benjamin Franklin. There is so much to learn from really great people.”
Besides painting, is there anything else you enjoy doing?
“Well, I’m a mom and that takes up a lot of my time. But, I love to cook. Some real home made cooking with all natural ingredients that are really fresh and organic.”
What was your New Year’s resolution?
“A group of friends and I said that this was the year ‘we’re going to figure it all out.’ ”
But, we say that every year. I’m just going to try to focus on making myself a better person, like being disciplined with working out and getting to sleep early – the basics.”
What will you do if Neumann Leathers closes?
“We’ll have to see what happens and take it as it comes. But, I do feel very fortunate to be here. It’s hard for me to think abut having to find another studio, because I’ve got to go back and forth to my son’s games and here to teach. Neumann could become a Mecca for arts and culture in the area, if some of the people get behind it. It’s a shame. With out the arts, the town will have to sustain itself on bars and condos. But, we’ll see. Things always seem to figure themselves out.”