Born in Dunkirk, N.Y., Michael's first real contact with art came early in life. At age five, his grandmother, whose works hung in the Buffalo, N.Y. Museum, would make him sit and watch as she painted. At the age of 13, after her death, he was given all of her equipment and within a week started painting and drawing. From that point on his talent gradually emerged. The standard high school art class is the only formal training that he has ever received and yet the young man won an art scholarship to college. Instead of college, however, the...more
