Seeds of Abundance: Limits, Loss & Regeneration
Michele Guieu
March 6 - April 24
Receptions:
Opening Reception: March 6, 5-7 PM
Second - First Friday: April 3, 5-7 PM
Artist Talk: March 19, 5:30 pm, Register here
Small Mobile Workshop: Saturday, April 11, any time between 11 am and 4 pm, Register here
On View: Wednesday - Saturday, 11 AM-4 PM beginning March 6.
Seeds of Abundance: Limits, Loss & Regeneration is a multi-room installation exploring abundance not through accumulation, but through attention to what already surrounds us. Using natural and salvaged materials gathered on-site and from Authentique Artfarm—branches, seeds, flowers, stones, and found elements—Michele Guieu creates a series of immersive environments that invite slowing down, reflection, and participation.
In a time marked by ecological overshoot, biodiversity loss, and increasing systemic complexity, the exhibition draws inspiration from the thinking of Nate Hagens and The Great Simplification, emphasizing response over solution. Visitors are invited to engage through small gestures—touching, listening, contributing, and observing—highlighting the power of limits, care, and collective presence.
Seeds of Abundance extends a body of work that began with large-scale outdoor installations in the Mojave Desert and continues here as a quieter, more intimate meditation on loss, regeneration, and the possibility of meaning rooted in simplicity.
Visitors are invited to bring a small natural element—seed, seedpod, dried flower, or stone—and add it to A Sense of Place, a growing communal structure in the main gallery, accompanied by a handwritten note. These small gestures become acts of presence, care, and connection within the exhibition.
Artist present at the gallery on select dates from 2–4 pm: March 11–12, March 18, April 1–2, April 8, April 15–16, and April 22–23.
About Michele Guieu:
Michele Guieu is an interdisciplinary environmental artist and educator based in Bend, Oregon. Originally from France, her practice is shaped by ecological inquiry and rooted in land and community resilience. With a background in graphic design, she creates large-scale, often participatory, site-specific installations using natural materials gathered on-site and salvaged elements. Her work balances reverence for the beauty of the natural world with an urgent awareness of biodiversity loss, ecological overshoot, and systemic breakdown.
Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at venues including MAC Paris, the de Saisset Museum, Santa Cruz Museum of Art, The Tech Interactive, Oceanside Museum of Art, and the San Diego Art Institute. She has held long-term teaching and curatorial roles with institutions such as Montalvo Art Center, the Alliance for Youth Achievement, and the Millennium Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere (MAHB), a Stanford University initiative.
In 2023, Michele and her husband relocated to Bend, where they founded Authentique Artfarm. Her artistic practice is increasingly rooted in land and community resilience.
This exhibition is supported by The City of Bend