by NATALIE PHILPOT

The line that divides the worlds of fine art and contemporary craft is sometimes a little fuzzy. Young, Montreal-based textile artist Natasha St. Michael is categorically erasing it altogether. Basing herself on the ancient craft of bead weaving, St. Michael creates strikingly beautiful suspended artworks that appear as if they're in perpetual growth.

St. Michael's three-dimensional works of woven glass beads are inspired by nature and allude to cellular microcosms. "No element can be born or sustain itself independently from its environment," she says. "The forms within each piece are chosen because they allude to the inherent properties of life: creation, the ability to sustain itself and the subsequent transformation toward decay." Her pieces gently entice us to look a little deeper at what lies beneath the surface of our everyday lives. Like their counterparts in nature, they appear fragile at first yet are amazingly solid and creating them requires meticulous exertion. St. Michael sometimes spends four months of 10-hour days to complete a single piece.

In just six years since returning home to Montreal after finishing a BFA at the Art Institute of Chicago, St. Michael is causing quite a stir in the bead world, both in North America and in Europe. Her unique creations have earned her many prestigious awards as well as numerous travel and creation/production grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, not to mention exhibitions in the U.S., France and Italy. Most recently, Natasha was the 2003 winner of Prix François-Houdé, an excellence award created for emerging craft artists by the city in collaboration with the Conseil des métiers d'arts du Québec. Check out www.natashastmichael.com for more info and photos of her art.

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