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Patricia Michaels

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Patricia Michaels
Born1966 (age 57–58)
New Mexico, U.S.
NationalityPueblo of Taos,[1] American
EducationInstitute of American Indian Arts
Chicago Art Institute
Known forNative American fashion, textile arts
Notable workTantoo in Flight (2023)[2]
PartnerJames Duran[3]
AwardsNew Mexico's Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts (2023)[4]
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Living Treasure (2024)[1]
Websitewww.patricia-michaels.com

Patricia Michaels (born 1966, New Mexico) is a Native American fashion designer who works under the fashion label PM Waterlily. She is a citizen of the Pueblo of Taos.[1]

Michaels was the first Native American to appear on the popular fashion design-focused television series, Project Runway. A finalist on season 11,[1] she returned to compete in Project Runway All Stars.[5] She has exhibited across the United States and internationally, including in South Africa and New Zealand.[6]

Early life and education

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Patricia Michaels was born in 1966[7] in New Mexico to Eddie Michaels (Polish-American) and Juanita Turley (Taos Pueblo).[8] Her stepfather, Frank Turley, was a blacksmith.[8] She grew up on Canyon Road in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where her parents owned an art gallery.[6] She often visited Taos Pueblo and, as a teenager, moved there to live with her maternal grandparents,[3] Ben and Manuelita Marcus.[8]

Dyslexia made schoolwork challenging for Michaels,[9] but she graduated from Santa Fe High School. In 1985, she apprenticed in costume design at the Santa Fe Opera.[6] She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, where she joined the fashion collective "Native Uprising", led by instructor Wendy Ponca (Osage).[9][10] IAIA co-founder Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee Nation[11]) told Michaels, "First Santa Fe and then Paris!"[8] After IAIA, she went on to study at New's alma mater, the Chicago Art Institute.[9]

In 2001, Michaels traveled to Milan, Italy, where she apprenticed with a tailor.[6] She then moved to New York with her two young children.[6]

Fashion career

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Through PM Waterlily, Michaels creates ready-to-wear fashion, couture fashion, jewelry, and accessories.[1] She specializes in hand-painted silks.[1]

At the 2010 Santa Fe Indian Market, Michaels won best of the textiles classification with a contemporary design which was seen as "a new Native chic."[9] This local breakthrough paved the way for her 2013 participation in Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York.[9]

In March 2015, Michaels took part in the Stars of Project Runway fashion show during Fashion Week El Paseo.[12] In September 2016, Michaels held a fashion show of her work at New York Fashion Week.[13] Some of Michaels' designs were featured in the 2017 SWAIA Haute Couture Fashion Show in August 2017.[14] Later that year, she was one of ten designers to represent the United States at World Fashion Week, Paris 2017.[14]

In 2023, Michaels designed a dress, titled "Tantoo in Flight", for Canadian actress Tantoo Cardinal to wear to the premiere of Killers of the Flower Moon at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.[2][15][16] The dress, which was inspired by men's eagle headdresses, featured eagle feathers on the skirt.[17] Cardinal wore the dress again for the Santa Fe Indian Market Gala in August of that year.[18] In April 2024, Michaels took part in the first SWAIA Native Fashion Week in Santa Fe.[1][17][19]

Project Runway

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Michaels became the first Native American designer to participate in Project Runway, an Emmy Award-winning reality television in which diverse fashion designers compete against each other.[1] She competed in Project Runway season 11, which aired in 2013, and was runner-up.

In 2014, Michaels returned to the show for Project Runway All Stars.[3][5] Her appearance on the show helped expose new audiences to Native American fashion.[9]

Visual art

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In 2019, Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), New Mexico's first Native congresswoman, now Secretary of the Interior, commissioned Michaels to design a chair as part of the "A Seat at the Table" art installation at the Edward Kennedy Institute in Massachusetts.[20]

In 2020, Michaels took part in a project organized by Naomi Campbell, in which artists created face masks to raise money for charities.[20]

Awards and honors

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In 2013, Taos named Michaels the Citizen of the Year,[5] and in 2014, the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian gave her their inaugural Arts and Design Award.[21] The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation chose Michaels to deliver the keynote address of their Millennium Scholars Program in 2016.[22]

In 2023, Michaels received New Mexico's Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts.[4] The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture named Michaels a Living Treasure in 2024.[1]

Personal life

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She married painter Tony Abeyta (Navajo), whom she divorced in 2008.[8] The couple has two children: a son, Gabriel Abeyta, and a daughter, Margeaux Abeyta,[23] both of whom are also artists.[4] After living in Santa Fe for years, she moved back to Taos Pueblo in 2023,[4] where she lives with her partner James Duran.[3]

Selected exhibitions

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Dávila, Ungelbah (2024-04-26). "Patricia Michaels' material world". Santa Fe New Mexican. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  2. ^ a b Robinson, Lynne (2023-06-08). "Flower Moons and Water Lilies: Patricia Michaels goes to Cannes". The Taos News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  3. ^ a b c d Jusinski, Charlotte (25 April 2018). "Trojan Clothes Horse". SF Reporter. Retrieved 25 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d Robinson, Lynne (2023-08-15). "Patricia Michaels receives the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts". The Taos News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  5. ^ a b c d "Patricia Michaels: Bringing Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives". The Fralin Museum of Art. University of Virginia. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d e Cunningham, Elizabeth (2011). "Patricia Michaels, Fashion Designer". Remarkable Women of Taos. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  7. ^ "A Letter to the Colby Museum by Patricia Michaels". Colby Museum of Art. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  8. ^ a b c d e Livingston, Joan (2013-10-09). "Citizen of the Year: Patricia Michaels". The Taos News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Barbaro, Theresa (Fall 2013). "Kiva New to Project Runway: Natives Make Their Own Fashion Statement". American Indian. 14 (3). Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  10. ^ Jacobs, Alex (13 September 2018). "Live From the 'Project Runway' Premiere With Patricia Michaels". ICT News. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Desert Motif". National Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Smithsonian. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  12. ^ Pena, Xochitl (2015-03-25). "'Project Runway' stars show designs during Fashion Week". The Desert Sun. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  13. ^ Root, Leeanne (2018-09-13). "Patricia Michaels Brings Her Native, High-Energy Fashion Show to New York". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  14. ^ a b Madeson, Frances (2018-09-13). "Great Native Designs at the SWAIA Haute Couture Fashion Show". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  15. ^ Schulman, Sandra Hale (2023-10-05). "'Tantoo in Flight' brings new acclaim to Taos Pueblo fashion designer". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  16. ^ Allaire, Christian (2023-05-22). "The Killers of the Flower Moon Cast Spotlighted Indigenous Design at Cannes". Vogue. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  17. ^ a b "Groundbreaking fashion show spotlights work of Indigenous designers". PBS News. 2024-07-11. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  18. ^ Benallie, Kalle (2023-08-22). "Indigenous fashion celebrated at Santa Fe Indian Market gala". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  19. ^ Cabe, Caroline (2024-04-05). "Meet The Designers Of The Inaugural SWAIA Native Fashion Week". Cowboys and Indians Magazine. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  20. ^ a b Robinson, Lynne (2020-06-03). "Patricia Michaels makes more than masks". The Taos News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  21. ^ "Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in New York Celebrates 20th Anniversary". Smithsonian Institution. 2014-10-27. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  22. ^ Jacobs, Alex (2018-09-13). "Michaels, Morningsong, Judd: Great Native Artists Honored in 2016". ICT News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  23. ^ "Illustrations by Margeaux Abeyta". Colby Museum of Art. Retrieved 29 October 2024.
  24. ^ "Native Fashion Now". Portland Art Museum. 2016. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  25. ^ "Native Fashion Now". Peabody Essex Museum. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
  26. ^ Clark, Virginia (2024-04-22). "Patricia Michael's timeless vision". The Taos News. Retrieved 2024-10-21.
  27. ^ "Painted by Hand: The Textiles of Patricia Michaels". Museum of Indian Arts + Culture. Retrieved 21 October 2024.
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