Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Nirumandrad.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I am a wife, mother, professional skydiver and the creator of Captured Sky. I made my first jump in 2008 as one of those right-place-right-time kinds of moments that ended up completely changing the course and direction of my life.
The ecstasy that comes from touching the heavens is totally unparalleled! The draw of the sky is calling you can’t help but want to answer. To hold on to. To capture. And now, after a decade in the sport and over three thousand skydives, I have found a way to attain the intangible, to claim a souvenir from above, through an artist endeavor I call Captured Sky.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am the only person who creates in this manner, so it has been an evolution of technique, practice, and trial and error to make possible. The artwork that I do combines gestural abstraction (think Jackson Pollock) during freefall skydives to create impressions of the sky, her finger paintings if you will. These are wholly unique works crafted, from start to finish, entirely above ground (while plummeting 120+mph towards it). Gear has to be secure yet accessible, controllable in the extreme winds, have planned and practiced emergency procedures, and so forth. It goes without saying, there is a lot of experience, training, and research that goes into the undertaking of this venture.
Years of working in the sport allowed me to accrue the body flight, canopy, and gear knowledge necessary to add abstract painting to the foray of things I can do safely while skydiving. For a good reason, practices outside the accepted norms in the sport are held to high scrutiny, so it was an endeavor of patience to finally make it safely to this point. I had to research the ingredients of the paints I use, the materials of my skydiving rig, ensure they wouldn’t adversely affect one another. Find out what agents would be safe for cleaning articulating components in the gear. Talk to the manufacturer of my skydiving rig, get their reassurances that the paints wouldn’t harm Steve (my rig) or my ability to cut-away my main canopy and deploy my reserve in the event of an emergency.
Once it was clear my gear could be maintained through the practice, I still had to figure out a way to take paints and canvases up through a skydive and actually get them to meet during that time! Which there was definitely a learning curve on figuring all that stuff out. Like I said, it has been an endeavor of patience.
Captured Sky – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Captured Sky is a one-of-a-kind art form which attempts to bridge the inherent gap between man and the heavens by giving the sky the tools it needs to create works of art. Canvases are rigged with industrial strength Velcro straps and worn on my thigh(s) and/or arm(s).
Paints are sealed in 2oz flip top containers and held in an outward facing vest. I catch a lift, typically in a twin otter, up to 13.5k ft (about 2.5miles above the surface of the Earth) and JUMP OUT. While in free fall and under canopy I release the paints and allow the winds of the sky to paint the canvas for me.
The unique blending, stippling, and final images are the closest thing you can hold in your hand as being a product of the sky. If you love the ocean, she’ll give you a shell, love the forest he’ll lend you a leaf, but if you love the sky?
Well, now, she can give you her art. Yes, to some it may seem fascinating or gimmicky to paint while skydiving. But the skydiving is not what makes this art special. It is merely a tool, just like a paintbrush, necessary to create and capture a piece of the intangible – Captured Sky.
That is the true gift of this work. After the piece dries, I go back with a wood burning tool and engrave the conception details into the wood of its canvas frame. So they will remain bound together forever.
This information includes the name of the piece, the date that it was jumped, the “amount of sky captured” which is the total amount of time the piece spent at terminal velocity, as well as the conditions of the sky when it was caught. In this way, the artwork is “signed” by the true artist, Sister Sky.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I think it has to be the ongoing receiving of my work. Both in the skydiving and the artistry world, people have been really captivated by Captured Sky, and that’s a super motivating thing! The drop zone that I jump out of, Skydive Spaceland Dallas, has been really accommodating and welcomed me as a vendor for their boogies (basically big skydiver parties).
I’ve had an outpouring of support since joining Instagram this past July. Captured Sky has been featured in a few art shows in the Dallas area and online and even on display at The Von Liebig Center in Naples! Everyone who has taken the time to view and understand the concept to my art has been so incredibly uplifting and encouraging, and for that, I am both proud and grateful!
Pricing:
- Originals $80-$400
- Archival Prints $15+
Contact Info:
- Website: capturedsky.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: @capturedskyart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/capturedsky
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnAPLjIml6fGw7j2nR47gVw?view_as=subscriber
Image Credit:
Ron Shipp, Frank Cole
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
