School of Architecture College of Architecture + Planning

Michelle Belliston Howard, AIA is Utah native and mother of three children. She developed a love of water through the countless hours spent on lakes and rivers with her angler son. Her paintings are inspired by the patterns that light and reflections make on liquid surfaces. Michelle also has a love of architecture that she expresses through painting. With architecture, she sees similarities to painting water in the ways that light and patterns bring architecture to life.

Unlike many architect-artists, Michelle began her career first in visual arts and later introduced the practice of architecture. For her, the architecture seed was sewn when an art teacher shared a quote about architecture being the highest form of art. In 2014, at the age of 38, she began studying architecture as a 3+plus Master of Architecture student at the University of Utah. Her fascination with the relationship of art and architecture started Michelle on a rewarding journey that she feels is just beginning. With the receipt of the Roger Bailey Travel Fellowship in 2018, Michelle began a series of paintings exploring the relationship of art and museum architecture in Switzerland and beyond. In addition to practicing architecture, Michelle paints and is an Associate Instructor at the School of Architecture, University of Utah.