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Michael's Biography
I received my
BFA from the Tyler School of Art after attending the first session of the Pennsylvania Governor’s School of the Arts.
Since that time I have worked on my own and with other organizations in various artistic endeavors. In
my early years I worked as a muralist for many private and governmental clients, many of the murals measuring 15 x 60 feet.
The murals covered a wide range of subject material; some of them whimsical, a few silly, others were serious. In 1985 I was
the colorist at the Fabric Workshop and Museum, working with well-known artists, such as Red Grooms, on specially designed
fabrics. In 1984 I began assisting internationally known architect Robert Venturi, airbrushing
special furniture prototypes for Knoll International. This lead to painting wall graphics in many Venturi designed buildings,
including The Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery of Art in London, the Museum of Contemporary Art in San Diego, the Nikko
Kifuri Resort Hotel in Japan, the Houston Children’s Museum, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. For the past 15 years
I have also worked on drawings for upcoming projects, such as the design of the unbuilt Philadelphia Orchestra Hall, the new
State House in Toulouse, France and several projects for Disney. The most recent projects include large murals for the New
Jersey State Aquarium, a muralized send up of an “A” Frame house on Mount Desert Island in Maine and a 30’
tall Victorian “Chiniose Temple” adorning a residential addition in New York. My most recent exhibits include one person shows at Rowan University and The George
School, and the most recent “Bucks County Artists – a Cross Section at BCCC” as well as the juried “Victory
for Tyler/ Works on Paper at the Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia. My work is included in private collections in Philadelphia,
Washington DC, Atlanta, Denver, Milwaukee, New York, Kansas City, St Louis, Fort Worth, Houston, San Francisco and Seattle.
Recent prizes include “Excellence in Contemporary Art “ award from the Greater Reston Center for the Arts,
2nd place overall at the Bayou City Arts Festival in Houston, one of five Fine Art Awards at the Lakefront Festival
for the Arts at the Milwaukee Museum of Art, and “Best in Drawing” at the Bethesda Row Fine Art show and the Brookside
Art Annual in Kansas City. Awards in 2011 were first place in drawing at the Sausalito Arts Festival in the Bay Area of Callifornia,
3rd place in drawing at the Bruce museum show in Greenwich, CT, and an invitation award at the Plaza Art Fair in
Kansas City, MO.
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Nina's biography I have a BS in Ornamental Horticulture and a MS in Clinical
Mental Health Counseling. Although seemingly unrelated, both involve the appreciation and nurturing of life in all its
diversity. Much of my inspiration and encouragement comes from my own garden, where over the past thirty years I have
been able to experiment, explore, and learn through observation and hard work.
My interest in ceramic art through the making of tile, mosaics, and sculpture has enabled me to express what draws me to the
natural beauty of insects, plants, and birds. It’s an investigation of the order and rhythm of nature through
clay. In mosaics the pieces that make up the image are an intricate puzzle of organic shapes, enhanced through the interaction
of color and texture. In the making of tile and sculpture, how I interpret the forms and patterns of insects or vegetation
reveal something to me about the beauty and underlying order of the natural world.
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