Who: Michele Monseau

Media: Photography, video, installation

Best known for: Video approached with the sensibility of more traditional art forms such as paintings and sculpture. The works in Monseau's current exhibit, “Gone Again II,” resemble twisted vacation snapshots: The diptychs and triptychs of digital photographs and video show individuals lying as if asleep at various tourist spots in Spain. In one, a man lies supine in the scrub and sands of Montjuïc; in another, Monseau herself is stretched on her side in front of the ocean. Have they collapsed in reaction to their monumental backdrops? In the videos, the camera slowly moves up and down the same scenes, beginning and ending with the prone figure, used as a visual anchor. “It's based in travel and the idealistic nature of travel and how you can kind of transform yourself in another location and shed the weight of your everyday life,” Monseau said.

Background: Monseau, an Ohio native, graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Youngstown State University in Ohio and came to San Antonio for the master's program in art at UTSA. In 1999, she opened her own gallery, Three Walls, in the front portion of her Blue Star studio.

Paying the bills: Monseau teaches digital photography and art at Palo Alto College and drawing and painting at the Southwest School of Art & Craft.

Check her out: “Gone Again II” is on display at Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, 116 Blue Star, through Aug. 19. Call (210) 227-6960 or visit bluestarart.org. Monseau's work will be represented in a group show at Sala Diaz in September. She is also shooting a video of the San Antonio pop rock band Buttercup.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA contributor

Courtesy photo 'Cathedral,' (top) 'Magnolia,' (middle) 'Laundry." (bottom)