Artist Biography

Michelle Stevens was born in Bountiful, Utah on January 18th, 1995. She has a condition called Achondroplasia, which is a form of dwarfism. She took an interest in the arts that manifested itself at age 7, when she entered a drawing contest for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Later that year, her mom passed away and Michelle was since raised by her dad. She also looked to her two older sisters and grandma as examples. Some of Michelle’s favorite pastimes are swimming, reading, and painting. She is now passionately working on getting her BA in Graphic Design at Brigham Young University, and plans to graduate in August of 2018.

Watch an interview with Michelle on Y News, 5 April 2017.

Artist Statement

Applying to the graphic design program at BYU was one of the most intimidating things I’ve ever done, and I was lucky enough to be accepted. I wanted to show some of the pieces I worked on for my portfolio, perhaps to help others with similar dreams. I’m still in the early stages learning, but hope to do more work on perspective, belonging, and becoming. As we are created, we create…

The chances of having dwarfism are about 1 in 20,000. Here are 20 pieces hung at my eye level, a little less than four feet. One piece is hung at the average height, to illustrate the difference. I feel like I stand out from most, yet others times I feel like I can’t be seen. I wonder what it would be like to be in a world full of little people. I draw inspiration from the love I have of people and connection. Each one of us is incredibly unique yet similar. We are each like a paintings with different backgrounds. Some of us are more similar than others. Some of us compliment each other. My hope is to help others see the beauty in things that are different and use the unique language of art to communicate and heal.

Michelle will be featured in a documentary in The Learning Channel some time in fall 2017.