Cancer Survivor Creates Stunning 3D Art in Indiana

When doctors told Dawn Michaelis she had three years to live, she decided those years would be filled with color, texture, and joy. A decade later, the Westfield artist is cancer-free and creating stunning mixed-media artwork that nobody had seen before.

Michaelis spent years as an office manager at her husband's dental practice, always dreaming of becoming an artist. Her multiple myeloma diagnosis in her 50s became an unexpected catalyst for change.

"When you're facing something like that, it makes you realize you need to have the people in your life that you love, and you need to do what you love," Michaelis said. She left her job and dove into art full-time.

What she created surprised even seasoned art professionals. From a distance, her pieces look like paintings, but up close they reveal sculpted trees rising from the canvas and a glass-like shine from epoxy resin coating. She invented her own plaster mixture that works perfectly with acrylic paint to add 3D elements.

"I had not seen anybody take it to the level that she did," said Ros Demaree, president of Indiana Artisan. The jury panel agreed, accepting Michaelis into the prestigious program in 2019. She's now one of only six mixed-media Indiana Artisans in the state.

Michaelis started with paint pouring but kept thinking each piece "needed something else." Through experimentation in her home studio, she developed her signature relief style. Each piece takes two to three weeks to complete.

Customers at galleries in Carmel and Zionsville snap up her nature-inspired work. "She's had very good sales because her art is totally different," said Christine Davis, who works at the Art In Hand gallery.

Why This Inspires

Michaelis named her studio Endless Knot Designs because the ancient symbol represents life's continuous journey through change. Her path from terminal diagnosis to thriving artist embodies exactly that. She transformed a devastating prognosis into permission to finally pursue her lifelong dream, then invented an entirely new art form in the process.

The money matters less than the meaning. "I do it because I love doing it," she said.

Dawn Michaelis is living proof that it's never too late to reinvent yourself, and sometimes our greatest obstacles push us toward our greatest achievements.