Born and raised in one of the largest art hubs, Pasadena California, Michelle Kaye’s love of the arts started at a young age. Having two creatives as parents helped to nurture Michelle’s exploration into her God given talents. Her art started to get attention in grade school after winning a few scholastic art contests. By middle school her skill allotted her to attain a scholarship to take a drawing class at Art Center College of Design. 

Michelle attended Maranatha High day School, where her art teacher, Ms. Barnhart, continued to push her abilities. She recommended her for the Ryman Arts Program, a non profit organization that provides college level art classes to high school students. Michelle was accepted into the program and would later work briefly as their Special Events Intern. By her sophomore year her art was featured in a Teen Vogue Magazine and she’d won a Converse design competition where her shoes were manufactured by the company. Her junior year she and four upperclassmen won the Tournament of Roses “Roses on Parade” competition after painting a five foot ceramic rose. Later that year she would go on to be selected as a finalist in the Lucerne Art of Dairy contest, where she was required to paint a life size ceramic cow. Opportunity struck twice when she was selected again the following year to paint yet another life size ceramic cow.

After her eventful high school career, Michelle continued her study of Fine Arts at Pasadena City College. In 2013 she placed third in the Insidious 2 Art competition, where her work was lauded by director and producer James Wan.

After her time at PCC, she later went on to win the Marc Jacobs Street Marc competition and was awarded tickets to the show New York Fashion Week in 2016. More recently Michelle and her dad took 2nd at the 2018 Pasadena Chalk Walk Festival for their mural of a larger than life cheeseburger.

In 2017 Michelle began work in wholesale fashion as a stylist and designer and content creator. It was during this time Michelle started to take her technical skill and really hone in on her personal aesthetic and artistic voice within her work. Her fashion influence started to become more evident in her paintings as her portraits began to take on a design feel. She later left the fashion industry to work from home which allowed her to pour into her craft even more. With the support of her husband John, she jumped into pursing her art full time at the beginning of 2019. She and her husband welcomed a baby girl in the Spring, and even with the new responsibilities of motherhood, Michelle sees this time as her most creative season yet.