Michaele Berman

1947–

Born in Winnipeg, Michaele Berman (1947– ), also known by her stage name, Michaele Jordana, is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist, media designer, and musician. Her practice uses interactive digital media to investigate the intersections of visual art, video, movement, sound, and technology. Berman graduated with a BFA from the University of Manitoba School of Art in 1969.

Her current practice developed out of her early work as a photorealist and superrealist painter. Oceans of Blood, her first exhibition of superrealist paintings, took place at The Issacs Gallery in 1976. The show consisted of life-sized paintings of killed whales amid the controversy of seal hunting in Northern Canada.

In 1977, she performed The Rites of Nuliajuk at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery with her partner, Douglas Pringle, and their production company, Peak Productions. The work marked the beginning of the development of her stage persona, Michaele Jordana, and her transition from fine art into performance art and music. Her band, The Poles, joined the New Wave movement, and their album “Romance at the Roxy” was nominated for a Juno award.

By the mid-1990s, Berman was working in digital art and design, applying photorealist techniques in her approach. She and Pringle began producing art, video, and music on the web. The introduction of new media in the early 2000s eventually led Peak Productions to turn into Peak Media Collective, where Berman is currently Creative Director.

Berman has also taught visual art at the University of Guelph, York University, and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Her work has subsequently been collected by the National Gallery of Canada, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, and Canada Council Art Bank.