Patricia Michaels

Patricia Michaels was born in 1966 in New Mexico to Eddie Michaels (Polish-American) and Juanita Turley (Taos Pueblo). Her stepfather, Frank Turley, was a blacksmith. She often visited Taos Pueblo and, as a teenager, moved there to live with her maternal grandparents, Ben and Manuelita Marcus. IAIA co-founder Lloyd Kiva New (Cherokee Nation) told Michaels, "First Santa Fe and then Paris!" After IAIA, she went on to study at New's alma mater, the Chicago Art Institute. In 2001, Michaels traveled to Milan, Italy, where she apprenticed with a tailor. She then moved to New York with her two young children. == Fashion career ==

Through PM Waterlily, Michaels creates ready-to-wear fashion, couture fashion, jewelry, and accessories. In September 2016, Michaels held a fashion show of her work at New York Fashion Week. Some of Michaels' designs were featured in the 2017 SWAIA Haute Couture Fashion Show in August 2017. Later that year, she was one of ten designers to represent the United States at World Fashion Week, Paris 2017. The dress, which was inspired by men's eagle headdresses, featured eagle feathers on the skirt. In April 2024, Michaels took part in the first SWAIA Native Fashion Week in Santa Fe. Project Runway Michaels became the first Native American designer to participate in Project Runway, an Emmy Award-winning reality television in which diverse fashion designers compete against each other. == Visual art ==

In 2019, Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), New Mexico's first Native congresswoman, now Secretary of the Interior, commissioned Michaels to design a chair as part of the "A Seat at the Table" art installation at the Edward Kennedy Institute in Massachusetts. In 2020, Michaels took part in a project organized by Naomi Campbell, in which artists created face masks to raise money for charities. == Awards and honors ==

In 2013, Taos named Michaels the Citizen of the Year, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation chose Michaels to deliver the keynote address of their Millennium Scholars Program in 2016. In 2023, Michaels received New Mexico's Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture named Michaels a Living Treasure in 2024. == Personal life ==

She was married to painter Tony Abeyta (Navajo), whom she divorced in 2008. both of whom are also artists. After living in Santa Fe for years, she moved back to Taos Pueblo in 2023, where she lives with her partner James Duran. == Selected exhibitions ==

• 2015–17: Native Fashion Now, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem MA; Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; National Museum of the American Indian, New York, NY, with catalog • 2024: Patricia Michaels: Fashion and Fantasy, Wright Contemporary, Taos, NM • 2024: Patricia Michaels: Bringing Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives, Fralin Museum of Art, University of Virginia • 2024–25: Painted by Hand: The Textiles of Patricia Michaels, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe, NM == References ==