Purple Profusion in Bloom - painted pointe shoes

Painted Shoes by Michelline Coonrod
Text by Robert Abrams
Photos by Robert Abrams and Michelline Coonrod
Shoes worn by Deanna McBrearty

What was old will be new again: Michelline Coonrod takes hard working pointe shoes that have reached the end of their working lives and turns them into art. While dancers do not necessarily have to stop dancing (anyone who says otherwise is forgetting about Fred Astaire), pointe shoes definitely do have to stop dancing eventually. I am always looking for ways that art can cross boundaries, so I thought that painting pointe shoes was an intriguing concept. Michelline takes what started as a supporting element of a kinetic art, and transforms it into a primary graphic art object. To illustrate her work, I asked Michelline to paint a pair of Deanna McBrearty's pointe shoes. Deanna has been a member of the New York City Ballet for over ten years and has appeared in ExploreDance.com photo essays. You can see the results of Michelline's work below.

For more information on Michelline's painted pointe shoes, please see www.pointeworkdesigns.com.

If you would like information on ExploreDance.com's greeting cards featuring pictures of Deanna McBrearty, please see our ordering page.