Michele Benzamin-Miki

Images that are subliminal appeal to multiple levels of our awareness. The figures in my work speak to your unconscious; rather than representing something literally. Detailed or expressionistic these figures merge with water based mediums, mostly Sumi ink on paper. The work is a way for me to engage directly with my imagination from point zero, inspired by over three decades in the study and teaching of Zen.

Study and practice in meditation and the Japanese sword, and my work with people in hypnosis and NLP (Nero Linguistic Programing) inspires me. Simple moments that wake us up from a different kind of sleep, moments that connect us back into our lives in an empowered way.

I am a multiracial woman whose art is greatly influenced by my Japanese ancestry and Moroccan and European Roots.

Co-founder of Five Changes and Manzanita Village Retreat Center in Southern California. I mentor and certify coaches, healers, artists, people in leadership roles, conscious business owners and entrepreneurs, in Hypnosis and NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programing) Constellation work, and mindfulness, facilitating workshops and retreats throughout the US.

Born in 1955 in Southern California. I am of mixed Japanese, North African and European-American heritage.

A self-taught artist, with artist parents so I was encouraged to paint and draw for as long as I remember, selling my art as early as age 9.

I was hired by Zox Studios, a thriving commercial airbrush studio in the San Fernando Valley while I was still in high school. After graduating in 1972 I continued there until 1976 as head designer, supervising up to twenty other artists. From 1976 to 1984 I became a freelance commercial artist.

I began teaching mindfulness and Zen meditation, and Iaido sword and Aikido around 1984 which greatly influenced my move from illustrative work to the fine arts.

From 1984 I focused solely on Fine Art, working in various mediums: watercolor, oils, pastel, pencil and sumi ink. I have my artists studio and Retreat Center in Warner Springs, CA.