Michael Willett (Born 1984) is the Director of Foundations and the Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Montevallo. Willet thinks that art should challenge an audience to look and think about the world differently. About the importance of art in his life, he says it’s just about everywhere; he teaches it, he exhibits it, he makes it, and he researches and learns from it. To him, art is also a connection that he has with his daughters, and it’s often his entertainment on weekends or on vacations. He just really loves the process of making things and the problem solving/creating that comes with that. Willet has to have that in his life; and it just so happened, he chose fine art as his vehicle to drive that need. His works range from small cut paper collages to large mixed media works on panel and canvas. One piece can measure up to 7 feet by 20 feet.
Many of his works center on abstract compositions that embrace explosions, grid formations, astronomy and geometry. Some of his works are mixed media with combination of graphite, acrylic, collage and screen print. But as a body of work, cut paper collage is resent in all the works. The techniques he uses to execute his works vary, and the creative process that gets him to the final result also varies and is constantly evolving. In fact all his works are created from re-interpreting existing works (images) of art. Reproductions and advertisement of works by other artists are meticulously fragmented of dissected, then rearranged into completely different compositions.
