Artist Statement: My paintings are a continuation of my childhood admiration and affinity for objects. At the age of 8, I was taking photos with an old film camera. My pictures of bicycle wheels, sewage pumps and other inane objects vexed my parents, but predicted my future creative production. I developed a sensitivity for the mundane. Bored with school, I filled the margins of my notebooks, turning circles into spheres, creating 3 dimensional objects from any shape or printed word. Attributing personality and life to objects matured into an empathy for all of the world’s substances which pervades my current work. Each object, place and person have a spirit that comes from their conception. There is a spark of the designer within it. In the process of painting something, I am respecting that fire of creativity while giving the painting its own artistic force. As a result of my process of repeatedly destroying the painted image, then recreating it, I find the life that the object possesses. This creation, destruction and evolution leads to the finished piece. The prior images may remain or be obscured, but the remnants are there. It is an analogy for life. My process has been augmented with color theory, atmosphere, edge quality and experimentation. The image is drawn using graphite and brushed around with thinner. The background color is blocked in, pulling the graphite into the paint and using it to darken and tone down the edges. This layer is thin, and the ground of the board can reflect through. This increases the intensity of the color and by brushing, scraping and rubbing, the color can be accented. I am constantly learning and experimenting with my paintings.

Bio April. 2020 At the age of 8, Mike was taking photos with an old camera. His photos of wheels, sewage pumps and other inane objects vexed his parents, as film & developing was costly, but predicted some of the art he now produces. Throughout his career, Mike focused on light and how it affects local color. A strong interest in how light accents the form, and a belief that form, color and atmosphere are best seen from actual observation form the foundation of his work. The techniques of shading and extruding have been augmented with color theory, atmosphere, edge quality and experimentation. The effect of light on a scene and the mood created by the placement and colors of the objects are his primary focus. He paints common objects, people and settings around him and hopes to expand how they are perceived and appreciated. Mike usually starts with a pencil sketch on the panel. Then turpentine is used to blend and darken the graphite areas. Some of these lines can be seen projecting through the finished work’s thinner paint layers. He goes back into this paint layer, scrubbing, wiping, glazing and occasionally reinforcing some of the edges with pencil. Mike’s work has been shown in regional and national shows, a handful of solo shows and has won several awards. He was awarded a FY20 Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program Grant, by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, 2020. Last Fall he was accepted as a Torpedo Factory Art Center Eligible Artist. Some recent awards were a first prize at the Capitol Hill Art League. Kensington Award, 2019, and First Place, 2017, both at the Falls Church Plein Air Festival, First Place at the Paint Berlin! (MD) in 2016, and Second Place at the Strokes of Genius National Painting show at the Circle Gallery, Annapolis, MD. In 2016, his piece, Eckington Korner was acquired for The Washingtonia Collection through the DC Creates! Public Art Program. Upcoming One -person Shows are: The Arts Club of Washington in May 2021, National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD, July 2020. He had a solo show at the Hill Center in Washington, DC in 2019, a recent solo exhibit at The Art League Gallery in Alexandria, VA. Fall, 2015, and a solo show at the 43rd Street Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA. 2014 had an exhibit at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, PA. Later that year the piece Possessions was created for the Westmoreland's “Peddling Personalities” exhibit. A Fellowship to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts was in 2015.

Artist Resume SOLO EXHIBITIONS: • The Art League, Alexandria, VA. .June, 2023. • The Arts Club of Washington. May, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------ • National Institute of Health: July 17 to Sept. 11, 2020 • Hill Center, Washington, DC. May 2 – June 23, 2019 • The Art League Gallery. Torpedo Factory. Alexandria, Virginia. June 2018 • Gallery on 43rd Street. Pittsburgh, PA 2015 • Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Greensburg, PA 2014 • Ann Miller Gallery. Wittenberg University. Springfield, OH. 2001 • Les Idees Art Gallery. Duquesne University. Pittsburgh, PA. 1997 • Waldemar A. Schmidt Art Gallery. Wartburg College. Waverly, Iowa. 1996 • Phillip Dressler Center for the Arts. Somerset, PA. 1996 AWARDS and HONORS: • FY22 Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program Grant. DC Commission on the Arts and Humanitites. 2022. • FY21 Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program Grant. DC Commission on the Arts and Humanitites. 2021. • FY20 Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program Grant. DC Commission on the Arts and Humanitites. 2020. • Selected as a Torpedo Factory Art Center Eligible Artist. Sept. 2019 to Sept. 2020. • Falls Church Plein Air Festival. First Place. Curator: Lisa Kuhn, former Director of The Art Bank at US Dept.of State. 2017. • Paint Berlin Plein Air. 1st place, Award Judge: Abigail McBride, accomplished Plein Air Artist. 2016. • Strokes of Genus National Painting Show. 2nd Place, Juror: Joey P. Mánlapaz’ Artist and Educator. 2016 • Virginia Center for the Creative Arts: Fellowship. 10 days at their location in Amherst, VA. April, 2015 • Open Exhibit.The Art League, Honorable Mention. Juror Gage Branda. 2022 • Landscape Exhibit, Maryland Federation of Art, Jurors Choice Award. Juror: Lillian Bayley Hoover. Aug 13-Sept 12, 2020. • Lowe House. Maryland Federation of Art. Second Place. Juror: Sara Allen Prigodich. Jan 9-April 13, 2020. • First Place. Capitol Hill Art League Member Show. Juror Phil Davis.2019 • Kensington Award, Falls Church, Juror Glen Kessler, June 2019. • Color Columbia. Honorable Mention. Juror Crystal Moll.2018 • Landscape Exhibit, The Art League, Honorable Mention. Juror Timothy Clark. 2018 • Color Columbia. 3rd Place. 2017. • Art on the Avenue. Part of Annapolis Plein Air. Public Artist First Place. Jurors: Darin Gilliam of Symmetry Agency, business owner Gavin Buckley, and Jim Cheevers, retired Senior Curator for the U.S. Naval Academy Museum. 2017. • Hill Center Capitol Hill Arts League Show. Best of Show (1 of 6). 2017. • Solomons Island Plein Air Festival Quickdraw Event. 2nd place, non-juried artists. Judge: Valerie Craig, plein air artist. 2016. • Great Falls Plein Air. 3rd place. Award judge: Jill Banks, artist. 2016. • Washingtonia Collection. Piece selected for this collection by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. 2016 • Honorable Mention. The Art League Open Show,, Alexandria, VA. Dec. 9–Jan 4, 2016. Clint Mansell, Dir. of Principle Gallery. • Award of Merit. Fred Rodgers Regional Art Exhibit, Latrobe Art Center, Latrobe, PA. 2014 • 3rd place. Hoyt Regional Exhibition. Hoyt Art Center, New Castle, PA. Juried by Louis Zona. 2014 • Selection for Southmoreland Area High School Gala. Southwestern Pennsylvania Council for the Arts 17th Annual Regional Juried Art Exhibition. 2014 • Selection for Latrobe Area High School Gala. Southwestern Pennsylvania Council for the Arts 7th Annual Regional Juried Art Exhibition. University Museum. Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 2002. • Juror’s Award. Washington & Jefferson College 25th National Show. Washington, PA. Prize Juror Manon Cleary. 1993 • Honorable Mention. Monroeville Arts Festival. Allegheny County Community College. Plum, PA. 1994 • Second Place. North Hills Regional Show. North Hills Art Center. Pittsburgh, PA. Juried by James Sulkowski. 1993 • Honorable Mention. Healing Our World. Washington festival. Washington, PA. 1993 NATIONAL EXHIBITIONS: • Strokes of Genius. 2020. National Painting Show. Maryland Federation of Art. Juror: Mark Karnes, Oct 30-Nov 25, 2020. • Landscape Exhibit, Maryland Federation of Art,. Juror: Lillian Bayley Hoover. Aug 13-Sept 12, 2020. • Long Beach Island Plein Air Plus. Loveladies, New Jersey. Juror Valerie Craig. 2018 • Paint It! Ellicott City 2018, Ellicott City, Maryland. Juror Bennett Vadnais. • Mountain Maryland 2018, Cumberland, MD. Juror Vlad Yeliseyev. • Mountain Maryland 2017. Cumberland, Maryland. Juror Barbara Jaenicke. • Plein Air Brandywine Valley 2017. Wilmington, DE. Oct 15-22. • Strokes of Genius 2017. National Painting Show. Maryland Federation of Art. Juror Susan Behrends Frank, Curator. • Paint It! Ellicott City 2017, Ellicott City, Maryland. Juror Hai-Ou Hou. • Long Beach Island Plein Air Plus. Lo