ABOUT THE ARTIST
Honore grew up in Michigan where she earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in art from at Western Michigan University in 1994. While raising a family, she worked as Coordinator of the ARTreach program at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, an art reviewer and maintained a busy studio practice.
Since 2001, she has worked as a Teaching Artist with the Aesthetic Education program and Education for the Arts. This methodology not only changed her teaching practice, but altered her life and her art-making experience in profound ways.
In 2021, Honore moved to the Lake Michigan shore community of Grand Haven which is both her hometown and her place of deep connection to the natural world. After 12 years of working as an adjunct instructor of Art and Humanities at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, she continues to teach Art History at Muskegon Community College and has worked as the Coordinator of the Aesthetic Education program with the Muskegon Area ISD since 2021.
Honore is a member of the Southwest Michigan Printmakers (SWMP), a guild of print-media artists who support and promote printmaking and book arts. She enjoys collaborating with fellow artists and writers, and has been a part of several collaborative groups whose efforts have culminated in exhibitions, poetry readings and broadsides.
She has received many awards for her work, and been the recipient of grants that include a 2015 KADI grant for her project, “After Image”. Her work has been represented in galleries throughout the US and is included in numerous collections.
“I am always looking for connections—in my work, my teaching, my relationships and in nearly everything that I endeavor to do. This is why I am drawn to collaborative work; dialogue, cross-pollination and the fellowship of artists from all walks of life enriches my experience in the world. All of my most enduring relationships are with those who I work, or have worked with. As a theme: “connection through discovery” runs through my visual arts practice; including investigations into my past, inquiring about the personal vs. the universal, observation and abstraction, immersion and solitude, among others.”
BIOGRAPHY
EDUCATION
1985 --- BS, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. Painting - Art - History
1993 --- BFA, Western Michigan University
1996 --- MA, WMU. Painting
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2021-Present --- Adjunct Professor
Art History, Muskegon Community College
Aesthetic Education Coordinator
Muskegon Area Intermediate School District
Book Arts Instructor
Oxbow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI
2009-2021 --- Art & Humanities Instructor
Humanities Dept., Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Courses: Modern Culture and the Arts, Art History
2001-2012 --- Arts Correspondent, Kalamazoo Gazette. Visual Arts Exhibitions Reviewer. Articles available on request.
Research Writing, Education for the Arts (EFA) Teacher's manual research: "Window on the Works". Manual is developed for program repertoire selections.
2005-2013 --- Kalamazoo Arts Integration Initiative (KAII) with Kalamazoo Public Schools. Teaching Artist.
A collaborative program with classroom teachers to develop and implement curriculum-connected arts integration programming.
GEAR-UP program/Western Michigan University/Kalamazoo Public Schools. Summer Art camp instructor.
Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts
2001 --- Education for the Arts’ Teaching Artist/KRESA.
Aesthetic Education Program. Developed through the Lincoln Center Institute for Education, NYC. Arts Appreciation programming in a classroom context. Collaborative with classroom teachers.
1995 --- Honore Lee Studio. Kalamazoo, MI. honorelee.com
Owner/Operator of arts studio, working with painting, collage, and bookarts.
1995-2002 --- Gallery Director
Fontana ChamberArts. Summer Music and Arts Festival exhibitions curator and coordinator.
1993-94 --- Research Assistant
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI. Designed and implemented a research project regarding on-campus arts programming.
1989-92 --- Art instructor.
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI. Children’s art camp instructor. Taught drawing courses for adults and teens.
1984-92 --- Arts Coordinator.
Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. ARTreach (outreach) Program, Upjohn Exhibitions Program and Corporate Benefactor Program. Coordinated all aspects of out-of-building exhibitions programs. Worked with KIA museum staff, curator, and volunteer as well as area educators and corporate administrators.
1983-92 --- Arts Correspondent, Kalamazoo Gazette.
1983-85 --- Gallery Director
Kingscott Gallery, Kalamazoo, MI. Coordinated and curated exhibitions in an architectural firm.
1982-84 --- Art Director
Deering Enterprises. Kalamazoo, MI. Coordinated student exhibitions and artists’ receptions in three Kalamazoo restaurants.
WORKSHOPS/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
2022 --- Arts Immersion in Italy with the Kalamazoo Bookarts Center. Worked in Scuola di Grafica Internazionale in Venice and Tipoteca studios in Cornuda to develop drypoint etchings and hand-set poetry to combine image and text into a hand-constructed edition of books.
2019 --- Arts Immersion in Ireland. Studying Plein-air drawing in the Burren region of West Ireland. Focus on geological forms in the landscape and architecture.
2004-2019 --- Summer Institute. Education for the Arts/Lincoln Center Insitute Advanced Teaching Artist /Educator's Training. Kalamazoo, MI.
2014 --- Encaustic Workshop with Barbara Ellmann. EFA Educator's Grant recipient.
2011 --- Faculty Cohort Seminar on curriculum development, evaluation protocol. KVCC. Grant Chandler and Nora Evers, facilitators.
Oxbow Artist Retreat, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Saugatuck, MI
Handmade Artists books with Brigitte Elmer
Encaustic painting with Christie Dietz
2005 --- KRESA. A+ Schools Training in Arts Integration methodology.
KRESA/ Lincoln Center Institute for Education. Teaching Artist Mentoring Program (TAMP) National Conference for Lincoln Center Teaching Artists
2003 --- Oxbow Artist Retreat. Book Structures with Andrea Peterman
2002 --- Lincoln Center Institute for Education, New York. Advanced Training for Teaching Artists, Visual Arts Programming.
2001 --- KRESA/Lincoln Center Institute for Education. Teaching Artist Training
GALLERY REPRESENTATION: PAST AND CONTINUING
Red on Blue Gallery --- Glen, MI
Woman Made Gallery --- Chicago, IL
Ninth Wave Gallery --- Kalamazoo, MI
Water Street Gallery --- Saugatuck, MI
Synchronicity Gallery --- Glen Arbor, MI
Midtown Gallery --- Kalamazoo, MI
Center for the Earth Gallery --- Charlotte, NC
Richard James --- Charleston, SC
LaFontsee Galleries --- Grand Rapids, MI
Gallery KH --- Chicago, IL
RESIDENCIES
Vicksburg Public Schools. Vicksburg Middle School: Bookarts program in collaboration with Advanced Placement Language Arts’ students.
Maple Street Magnet School for the Arts, Kalamazoo, MI. Collaborative arts programming with Bi-lingual and Spanish language instructor in Bookarts and Mural painting.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
Irving Gilmore Emerging Artist Grant --- 2-Time Recipient
KADI Grant --- Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo, "After Image" project, 2015
Education For the Arts Individual Project Grant --- 3-Time Recipient
Education for the Arts Educator Grant --- 2-Time Recipient