Sculptor in Metals and Motion

 

Mike lives and works in Carrboro, NC where he and his wife, author-artist Clay Carmichael, maintain the Heartworks Studio.

A graduate of University of Maryland where he majored in studio art his work has been collected widely in both public and private collections.

 

"I've been making art since I was small, it's what I came in hard-wired to do. Working with steel satisfies me in a way that no other medium has.

It is tough and durable, yet maleable and open to infinite suggestion. It is heavy and obdurate, and yet can be made to express delicate movements

of balance and grace. It can appear earthen and solid, or be polished to light-refracting brilliance. My work follows the notions of my thoughts.

I don't often sketch ideas in advance: the bars, angles, torch, and welder are my drawing tools. All I need is a hook, some mental picture of an

interesting direction to explore and I begin.      

 "I like to be surprised with what I come up with at the end of the day. Creativity is a journey where knowlege must be accumulated and employed

in a seamless cycle. It fills in gaps of what I don't know in seemingly random ways, but only because I can't foresee everything that will be required

to resolve the current problem. Then, inevitably, several onward courses will beckon. I'll choose what to me seems the most interesting way forward.

That's the key, not what just moves you to completion, but what makes the journey a lively, memorable trek. I've learned as I have gotten older,

and maybe some wiser, to talk less and work more. That's where the truly interesting conversation is taking place."