Meet Michelle Ishida | Artist & Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Michelle Ishida and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michelle, why did you pursue a creative career?
I have always loved creating art or music since I was a child so I naturally gravitated toward making a living doing either or both.
I was fortunate enough to experience some success while I was in college selling my clothing designs and being paid for musical performances. That success gave me a taste of the artist’s life during that developmental time and I learned that I enjoy the freedom of being my own boss. I also believe that being an artist is important in society and creativity can be helpful to raise our collective consciousness. I always set an intention with my artistic career to connect and bring joy to others through whatever I create.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I exhibit my art and clothing under the name Tree Lady Art Prints at juried art festivals and sell online through my Etsy site. I draw different types of trees and make silkscreens of them to print onto clothing and handbags. I also print editions on archival paper. I have been exhibiting for over 30 years now and this is my full time job.

In addition to being known for my tree tshirts, I have been an active member of the Columbus music scene since 1991. I currently write, sing and play keyboards for Gathering Stars and The Repo Pilots. My past musical projects include Mary Adam 12, Wishyfish, The Ginger Lees and The Mary Anns.

Music and art have been my lifelong focus. I have formal training in classical piano and composition from Otterbein University, a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University for printmaking and a certificate in audio engineering from The Recording Workshop.

I have received grants for both art and music from The Greater Columbus Arts Council, had a segment on HGTV’s “That’s Clever”, was featured on WOSU’s “Broad & High”, Columbus’ Local Waste music podcast and performed at the 2023 Music In The Round. In 2024 I was awarded the Honored Artist Medal at Comfest in Columbus, OH.

Because I am now going on 30 plus years of making art and music for a living I can look back at the different phases of my career and be grateful for all the lessons I’ve learned along the way. The only reason I am able to be doing what I love for my career is that I never stopped doing it. Persistence would be my number one piece of advice for anyone trying to make a living from their passion. I’ve had many missed opportunities, failures, shows gone badly and years where I had to work a part time job to make ends meet but everything I did taught me something that I could use to improve my own business. I also learn a lot from my customers and listen to their opinions. My customers are the reason I renamed my business to Tree Lady Art after they kept calling me the tree lady – it just made sense!

I care deeply for the environment, nature and animals. I hope that my art reflects the peace I feel when I observe how beautiful trees are and how special and necessary their existence is. I hope that people who see my tree prints will feel the same way. Ultimately when I create art or music I am doing something that brings me joy. As I stated before, I would like to bring that joy and peace to others.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Most of my favorite places in Columbus are associated with art, music, nature and food. If I had a friend visiting Columbus for a week I would take them for a walk around Whetstone Park of Roses to see the beautiful rose gardens and trees, then on another day take a bike ride on the Olentangy Trail from Whetstone Park to Antrim Park or keep going all the way to Worthington Hills for a bite to eat at the Rusty Bucket. If they were into seeing even more nature Chadwick Arboretum at The Ohio State University or Franklin Park Conservatory would be next on the list.
During the summer months I would take them on Saturday morning to the Worthington Farmers Market. For dining options we would go to Northstar in Clintonville, Cumin and Curry at Easton, Vasos at Bridge Park in Dublin for the great view and to walk across the bridge, Local Roots in Powell for live music on their patio, and Akai Hana for sushi.
My favorite places to get a drink and see live music are Dick’s Den, Natalie’s, Rambling House and Eldorado’s.
I love going to the Columbus Museum of Art for a nice day trip where we could also get lunch.
Columbus has a myriad of really good festivals. Some of my favorites are Comfest, Columbus Arts Festival, Jazz and Rib Fest, Day of The Dead, Worthington Arts Festival, Upper Arlington Labor Day Art Festival and Westerville Art & Music Festival just to name a few.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My shoutout goes to the women in my family who inspired me by example. My grandmother used to sing Japanese songs at a park in Fresno, CA but stopped when my grandparents moved to Ohio to avoid being put in the Japanese American internment camps. Fortunately she would still sing to herself and I would hear her when we were in the kitchen. I have a lovely memory of us lying on the beach and she would hum pretty melodies. She was also very fashionable and loved clothes. My mother took us hiking a lot and taught us about trees, plants and birds. She also grew a huge garden every year. Recently it dawned on me that she is the original “tree lady” of our family. When my parents built the home I grew up in it was situated on farm land with no trees! She planted so many trees back in 1974 that now she lives in her own private 50 year old woods with special trees planted for each member of our family. My aunt had horses and taught us to ride horses and love all animals. My older sister introduced me to the art scene and showed me that you can make a living as an artist by exhibiting at art fairs and galleries. She also helped me get my first job as an artist’s assistant learning how the art festival and wholesale art business works.

Website: www.treeladyart.com and www.gatheringstarsband.com

Instagram: @treeladyartprints and @gatheringstarsband

Facebook: @treeladyartprints and @gatheringstarsband

Youtube: @gatheringstarsband

Image Credits
Karl Francis, Sandy Rochowicz, Carole Walker