Michelle Joy Katz (מנוחה צירל)

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I began painting in my teens in New York, drawn to the freedom and expressive power of abstract forms. My love of art began even earlier: my parents would take me to the annual Greenwich Village Art Fair. I remember buying a small painting for $5 called The Pond, a sweet landscape I hung in my bedroom — a piece I still see vividly in my mind’s eye. I have strong memories of loving the Spin Art booth, where swirling colors and motion captured my imagination; I could have stayed there all day.

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Largely self-taught, my artistic path has been shaped by intuition, curiosity, and experiences in Europe and Israel. Now living in Israel, I work in painting and mixed media, finding inspiration in landscape, light, memory, and inner reflection. I often approach the canvas without a fixed plan — a color, a mood, or an impulse guides me, and each piece unfolds as a unique journey. Being open to change keeps my mind fertile, and lately I have been exploring paint pouring and new techniques, excited to see where each experiment leads.

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My work reflects the universal human experience, exploring resilience, renewal, and possibility. I invite viewers to enter each painting on their own terms, discovering connection, emotion, and meaning in color, movement, and form.