Artist Profile

   Ty Michelfelder graduated with honors from Iowa Central Community College with an Associate degree in computer science and built a successful career in information technology.  However, her true love was always art, so she left the corporate life behind and pursued a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Media Arts and Animation at the Art Institute of Atlanta.  She achieved her goal and graduated with honors, winning both the Academic Excellence and Outstanding Portfolio Awards.

Shortly after graduation, Ty was recruited by the Atlanta Braves to create computer animations for the Turner Field matrix and video boards.  The Braves employed her for two seasons during which time she helped create the popular "Thunder Roll" animation that was used to introduce closer, John Smoltz.

Although the basis for Ty's art is the traditional paper, pencil, and paint, her love of art combined with her computer expertise has led her to explore many forms of digital art including: photography, drawing, painting, 2D animation, and 3D animation,  Ty enjoys learning new  ways to express herself and continues to hone her cutting edge skills, consistently incorporating the latest forms of digital technology with her art.  Ty's unique fine art prints are in private collections across the United States.

Artist Statement

     I purchased my first digital camera (an Olympus C-2000) several years ago and used it primarily to capture images I could use as source for my animations.  I also used the pictures for other forms of art, such as creating CD covers. I love to travel and was able to take a trip to Greece with my husband and classmates, while at the Art Institute.  During that trip I was able to capture wonderful images on my digital camera.  It was then that I fell in love with taking pictures and using computer software to enhance the images and edit them to engage the viewer and show him the world from my point of view.  

     The world is filled with interesting and beautiful images.  The old, new, broken and intricately formed are all worthy subjects to enjoy or ponder.  To frame and freeze images in space and time is an art that calls to me from the depths of my soul.  I must photograph my world. I must capture the images around me. Ancient ruins, broken eggshells, and blossoming fruit trees.......each has it's own special beauty....separated by space and time, yet interconnected. Without one, would we have the other?

     I am also a painter and have come to love the art of digital painting.  It is a medium that allows me to paint in watercolor, oils, pastels, etc., with hundreds of different brushes at my disposal.  It also allows me to create my paintings in limited edition prints that are not reproductions of my work.  Instead, they are hand-printed originals with no loss in quality. The variability inherent in the process of personally printing the paintings one at a time makes each print unique.  

     Taking pictures allows me to be immersed in the world around me and leads me to examine it in a way that no other activity does.  It is a joy and an obsession.  Digital painting takes my creativity to the next level and allows me to not only interpret the world around me, but also blend it with colors and images from my imagination.  I hope you enjoy my website and are able to find at least one image that touches you in some way, causes you to look at your world differently, or stimulates your imagination.