Biography

Michelle de la Vega is a multidisciplinary, installation, public, and community engagement artist based in Carrizozo, NM and Seattle, WA. Her creative ventures probe the bounds of aesthetic and societal dynamics through fostering dialogue, bridging divides, and investing in community on a wide scale. Michelle’s social practice model deeply integrates groups and individuals into the generative processes and exhibitions of her cross-disciplinary projects. Her conceptually driven work includes sculpture, immersive environmental design, video and film, collage, metal fabrication, photography, choreography, text, and partnership building through project based community engagement.

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Michelle’s work has been exhibited at Gallery 4Culture, Bridge Productions, The Center on Contemporary Art, Oxbow, Soil Gallery, The Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, Out of Sight Seattle, Equinox Studios, Bellevue City Hall, Attleboro Arts Museum, Columbia City Gallery, Blowing Sands Gallery, University of WA School of Social Work and more. She recently completed a monumental permanent outdoor sculpture for Sound Transit's Light Rail at the new Kent/Des Moines station in King County, WA. She is a former Artist Trust Fellow, and City Arts Magazine Artist of the Year recipient. She was honored to be a 2019 finalist for the MN Department of Transportation Artist in Residence, and the 2025 Source Water Protection Collaborative Residency in Chatfield, MN. Through her investment in women’s care Michelle co-founded the women’s King County Jail Art Workshop for incarcerated women in partnership with Martha Linehan at The Organization for Prostitution Survivors. In 2024 Michelle joined the steering committee for Path with Art's Reintegration from Incarceration art program and was excited to lead the first workshop for this new cohort. In 2025 she released a feature film documentary entitled THIS LAND: Access and Equity in Minnesota in collaboration with Dr. Eva Barr of Dream Acres Farm that focuses on BIPOC rural land access and justice in Minnesota. The film explores the value of diversity in the landscape and the importance for communities of color to reconnect with and contribute stewardship of the land. Michelle is also a beekeeper, a micro intensive food farmer, and is working on building a homestead on 21 acres in Carrizozo, NM.

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Michelle’s work has received support from Artist Trust, The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, King County 4Culture, the Institute of Emergent Technology + Intermedia (iET+I) at Cornish College of the Arts, The Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, The Seattle Foundation, The Millay Colony, The Center on Contemporary Art, Equinox Studios, La Sala, Bootstrapper Studios, The Puffin Foundation, Springboard for the Arts, The Land Stewardship Project, FS Foundation, and a consortium of generous patrons. She has served on King County's 4Culture Public Art Advisory Committee, and as a program development consultant for the WA State Arts Commission, Artist Up and The Organization for Prostitution Survivors. As a teaching artist Michelle focuses on relationship building and self care through creative choice making. Her passion has been working with diverse and underserved communities, including people living with mixed traumatic experiences. She has been deeply influenced by her mother's pioneering legacy as an educational therapist. 

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Michelle received her education and training from Otis Parsons in Los Angeles, CA (visual art), Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, WA (BFA in Dance, Cum Laude), and the South Seattle Community College Welding and Metal Fabrication Program.