WhiteTrail Collage

BIO Michael received his Undergraduate Bachelor Degree in Painting and Drawing from California State University at Long Beach. He studied with teachers; John Lincoln, Connie Jenkins and Roger Herman. While attending C.S.U.L.B. he received many scholarships for his painting and drawing. After graduation in 1985, he moved north to Oakland, California. There he pursued his painting and in 1988 was nominated for a SECA Award. By 1989, he was showing his work in Galleries and Museums around the Bay Area. From 1991-92 he served on the board of Directors at Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland where he curated two shows; A Fragile Line: Artists Who Use Glass and The Bluebook Chronicles, About War and Peace. He also was the chairperson for the East Bay Open Studios consisting of 850 artists at that time. He found work doing exhibition installation at various Bay Area museums and started to work on the production of films in their Art Departments. A lover of film and influenced by film in his visual work at the time, Michael relocated to Southern California to pursue a Master of Fine Arts Degree with a specialization in Production Design from the American Film Institute in 1995. There, he received the Mary Pickford award for outstanding Production Design and studied with Robert Boyle, Henry Bumstead and Richard Hoover. Graduating in 1998, he pursued Production Design and began to Design and Art Direct many low-budget features, commercials and music videos. He’s worked with Directors: the late Bob Clark, Marc Webb, Matt Stone and Trey Parker amoungst others. He became a member of the Art Directors Guild in 2000. In the Fall of 2002 he got an invitation to teach Production Design at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California where he continues to teach as an Full Time Faculty member. For twelve years, he has also taught Studio Arts; painting, drawing and life drawing at Chaffey Community College. Throughout his work in Cinema and Teaching, Michael has maintained a studio and contiues to paint studing the world and life in Los Angeles.