Thanks to the generosity of our guest artist, this exhibition has been organized as a fundraiser for the Filley Art Museum!
40% of sales are donated to the art museum (which can be tax deductible for those who purchase artwork during this show). Your contribution helps the Filley Museum accomplish our mission and serve our community. By purchasing artwork during this show you are donating funds that will go back to the community in the form of services that the art museum provides. Some of our programming includes school and educational tours, art classes, exhibits, lectures, and unique art based events.
Call 620.933.2787 or email info@vernonfilleyartmuseum.org for more information or inquiries on purchases. Please come visit us in person to see the full exhibition and experience the artwork personally while they are on display at The Filley! 40% of sales are donated to the art museum (which is tax deductible for those who purchase artwork during this show).
Yellow Tale
Oil /Panel
12 x 12
$1000
What captured my eye was the enormity of the strong tree and yellowing foliage. It was truly set in its ways, true to nature and on time in terms of fall. Located in the Missouri Ozarks. I incorporated the road for a lead in and effect.
Lighted Path
Oil/Panel
9 x 12
$660
Here is a pathway through the trees at the West Plains, MO Park. A particularlly unusual sliver of light resonates for a time to reflect on its message and journey.
Bed and Breakfast
Oil/Canvas
12 x 36
$1150
Red Barn located between Olathe and Spring Hill Kansas. Wonderful big barn with round bales. This was a breathtaking wide expanse of farm life in America. Loved the horizontal composition of nature in this narrative giving way to the “largeness” of Kansas agriculture. One of the goals in this piece was to make an effort to juxtapose a relatively cool background against a warm foreground. I love this overriding idea in paintings.
Repose
Oil/ Panel
12 x 12
$800
I saw this great majestic tree in West Plains, Mo. Howell County Fair Grounds, off 60 Hwy. I painted it as a fall tree. Love the secondary color palette of green, orange and violet. It was my hope to express that sense of stillness and quiet while couched in the warm sun rays with a good book. To accentuate the tree’s true size, strength and power, I decided to place a lady on a bench next to the tree. I was very pleased with its placement and contribution to the composition. How many times have we wished to be in her place.
Nostalgia
Oil/ Panel
12 x 12
$800
This title expresses my sentiment and intrigue completely. This little old house is a house of personality and character. According to the dictionary, the sentiment is expressed this way……a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one’s life, to one’s home or homeland, or to one’s family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time. This is it in a nutshell. I think we all yearn for simpler times of peace and sense of place.
Eureka Springs
Oil /Canvas
12 x 36
$1150
Eureka Springs, Arkansas, is a wonderful, quaint little town, so user friendly and warm. Loved the lead in winding road with intensity of light at the distant horizon. Wanted to convey the gradation of light from front to back with overhanging clouds and foreground shadow at the launching of springtime and the song of birds.
Ocean Swirls
Oil /Canvas
12 x 36
$1,150
This ocean scene reminded me so much of my life growing up in California, as I would visit the ocean on numerous occassions to enjoy the sights, smells, and sounds. It was a time to feel completely free and to feel the power of the sea. This motif is from from the memories gained from constant observaton of the undulating ocean. This is a study from imagination coupled from viewing many ocean video recordings where I could emmerse myself, watch, listen, pause and paint.
Port Edmonds no. two
Oil / Canvas
12 x 12
$800
Here is a scene from Port Edmond’s Marina, Washington State. This composition is a complimentary palette of blue and orange. I think it conveys more of a weathered look of the gray-ish blue-ish boats and sea with integrations of orange along the way. This setting is filled with the smells and sounds of sea-life and seagulls. I love the ocean and boats listing in the water with splashes and the bumps of oars. What caught my eye was the boat’s unique perspective and sense of depth.
Low Tide Row $620. Oil/ Panel8 x 10This seascape is out of the West Coast, Jughandle. I painted this one to accomplish a peaceful and restful feeling with the wet reflected beach. I especially loved the contrast in texture of the jagged rocks and soft rolling tide.
Sunday Peace
Oil/Panel
10 x 19
$785
“This particular motif of a little country church set in the midst of red bud trees speaks to my heart. It evokes a call to pursue peace and worship. Here, one finds herself or himself moving along a winding passage to worship and adore God’s great unfailing truths to embrace and be healed. This is the place where we go accept, forgive and love one and enrich the world in which we live. Inside this great universe and under the canopy of God’s great grace and mercy, we receive His embrace. Thanks be to God! The painting is a split complementary palette of greens, violets, and reds and red oranges. I also use now, what it is called the ‘Geneva Limited Color Palette’, which is made of just six colors.”
HayDay
Oil/ Panel
9 x 12
$800
It was rewarding to watch this Ozark Farmer dishing up hay into a belt driven antique baler that was being belt driven from a John Deer. They were constantly having to stop the thing to make adjustments and repair. It was a team effort. The scene was captured in Cabool Missouri. I did very much the same thing when I was young. The hay bales were about 150 lbs worth of lifting up on a trailer. It was great for the arms, back and body and built character to be sure. These were the times when the farmer had a sense of duty and joy without regard to feelings whether to do the thing or not. If one did not “feel” like working, he or she would not be sustained.
Tractor Pull
Oil/Panel
12 x 12
$800
Cabool, MO Farm Fest. Waiting for the Tractor Pull. I loved the figurative gesture, and a farmer poised and postured for the task ahead. The tractor is an antique Farmall 1954. The work ethic is as pure as it can get.
Farmer Banks
Oil/Panel
16 x 20
$980
Cabool, Missouri, Farm Fest. What a great older gentleman by the name of William Banks on his John Deer antique tractor. I asked this gentleman if I could take his picture. He said, “sure, one moment while I get my special hat.” He got up on his historical John Deer and showcased with distinct pride every bit of his rugged personality, character, strength, longevity and love for life. Wow!! Thank you, William.
Baling Hay
Oil /Panel
12 x 12
$800
This scene took place in Cabool, Missouri, at the event here in the painting called “Farm Fest”. There were numerous antique tractors and machinery on site. What a joy to behold a piece of this dynamic America. This gentleman was pulling a bale off the antique baler. These babies weigh between 60 and 150 pounds. One’s age has no bearing in the Ozarks, as the hard working folks have no cutoff time to be working viable farmers. It is a way of life. Nothing is impossible. It is a do or die mentality. Kudos
Farm Fest
Oil /Panel
12 x 12
$SOLD
This scene was in Cabool, Missouri, at the yearly Farm Fest. I really loved seeing and watching these farmers at work demonstrating all the tools of the trade. This gentleman was unique, in that he was leaning forward and engaged. One had a sense he was deeply passionate about his work and that he was part of his John Deer. This John Deer tractor’s flywheel on the right side was hooked up to to a belt driving a hay bale mechanism to the front of him while the other farmers were busy forking hay into the antique machine to twine. This is where this farmer’s gaze was actually fixed. When I was a young man I drove a two popper antique John Deer tractor on the farm in Sixes, Oregon. There was nothing like it. There was nothing it could not do.
Country Light
Oil/ Panel
9 x 12
$660
Country Road in the Missouri Ozarks. This unpaved road is where earth and passage fits the context of nature without the influence of man and machine. I loved the richness, tones, and earthiness of this passage way through fall trees.
Pillowed Light
Oil /Panel
8 x 10
$620
Here is a scene from Olathe, Kansas. I captured these blooming, pillowy clouds hovering over a simple landscape.
Tecumseh Warm
Oil/ Panel
8 x 10
$620
Scene out of Tecumseh, MO. This was a place that was owned by some very dear friends of ours while we lived in the West Plains, MO. The couple who owned this passage way and farm were in their eighties and in great health and full of life. It was all because of farm work. He, in particular, was strong as an ox and still working his farm. What a example of tenacity and work ethic. This passage way was one of the many roadways that reached into money making hayfields he worked.
The BroomMaker Two
Oil/ Canvas
22 x 26
$1,358
The figurative motif was recorded at the Alley Springs Festival, MO. This event showcased pioneer makers. Some of the participants made soap, some were weavers, chefs, or metal workers. Loved this Broom Maker’s gesture, character and strength. So much fun to watch and learn from this great artisan making an item of utility out of natural resources. We see the work ethic, pride, love, passion, skill, substance, history, and product. It is the foundation and structure from which the working society derived. I loved the hard work of fashioning a functional tool for sweeping and cleaning. The entire process of making the broom was wonderful to behold. There is for me a symbolic idea of making a clean sweep of things in life through God and His grace, the giver of love and gift. The color palette is a tetrad of blues, reds, greens and yellows.
Respite
Oil /Canvas
20 x 20
$1,100
Here is a finished oil painting from a makers festival in Alley Springs, MO. Absolutely loved these two men taking a break and just ‘hanging out’ from the labor of making the necessary daily provisions. I really loved the gestural lines, character and personality of the thing. Certainly a refreshingly simple way of life without all the modern electronic gadgets. Notice their gaze. They are looking out rather than down on phones etc. This reenactment event is during the civil war era. Refreshing for me.
Jilli’s Cello
Oil/ Panel
12 x 12
$800
Flint Hills Kansas. Jilli and her Cello. To hear the vibrations of cello strings in a outdoor setting is to blend with nature’s orchestrated sounds and heights of heaven. Kansas skies surely set the backdrop for resonate intonations and illumination.
HitchHiker
Oil / Panel
12 x 12
$800
This is a 1954 Dodge pickup in West Plains, MO. I loved this little baby. The pickup exhibited profound personality and character. The truck is sitting in front of a building/shop across from the local ice cream shop. The bed was originally filled with metal and other assorted items. I asked the owner if I could take pictures of his vehicle and he said, “sure.” I told him I was an artist and would love to paint this piece of history. I loved the complimentary color palette of blue green and rust orange. It was just perfect. So, I placed the truck in a pasture of sorts to give it more life, scale, and depth. I wanted the 54 Dodge pickup to speak for itself in all her glory
Misty Blues
Oil /Canvas
30 x 30
$1,850
This scene, a special event at Alley Springs, MO, is from a Civil War Era/Pioneers exhibition. This gentleman was expressing sweet notes on a 12 string guitar, fitting the context of the day. The morning dove is added for effect. Why not. Also, I tried to convey a contrast in atmosphere between foggy mist and sunlight. It was fun controlling the mood and light in the scene.
On A Roll
Oil/Canvas
24 x 36
$1,800
This is a 1949 Case Tractor on a roll at the Cabool, Missouri Farm Fest. What I am trying to do in this story is to personify and resonate farming in America. We must never forget this ethical cultural foundation of hard work, product, produce and family life. God bless all the farmers, from all size farms. Farms where men are men and women are women. I once lived on a farm where I drove similar tractors hauling hay to beef cattle and dairy cows. There is nothing like driving a popping tractor of power. I was on top of the world and owned my responsibility as a young man. I was going somewhere and doing. Milking dairy cows and feeding chickens wasn’t bad also. Loved it
On the Loose
Oil/Canvas
24 x 30
$1580
I was impressed and captured by this tree, found in Gardner, Kansas. The tree demonstrated strength, root, power and reaching branches stretching out to render a fall seasonal sense of yellows. I wanted to juxtapose the gray overcast sky in the background with the illuminated foreground to achieve a sense of vibration, contrast and warmness. Trees have so much personality, character, and power. They do seem to posture themselves in dance with balanced flowing arms and fluid movement within the nature. The cows are added for tension and sense of being on the loose, finding shade under this great umbrella of branches.
Michael’s art gene came to life by a ‘Paint-by-number’ set given to him by his parents at the age of seven. In 1971 Michael’s Chinook Helicopter door-gunner orders to Vietnam were averted because Michael was drawing in the army barracks with his door open. By divine intervention, a soldier stopped at the open door looking for someone to fill his position as draftsman. Making a long story short, Michael’s orders were changed to a general draftsperson working for the Battalion HQ Colonel Commander. Michael’s art would now become front and center in the Army and for life. Michael has been painting professionally now for 30 years.
Michael’s work can be described as heartfelt, poetic, expressive, truthful, luminous and visually pleasing. His ultimate goal is to achieve a narrative that is simple, eye catching, visceral and convincing. A collection of expressive marks within a component shape, forms its identity, yet reads with the impression of realism. This is the exciting visual mystery and head-scratcher of the thing. Moreover, Michael’s technique is to apply his pigment with gradations of thin to thick (fat over lean) from background to foreground within the visual plane. The beauty of one simple brush stroke has the power to seize the viewer’s attention for minutes. This is what makes painting worth it all. Mike wants his audience to be able to participate and connect with his paintings, by contributing their own personal experiences to the motif in the viewing process. In doing so, his hope is that the participant would enlarge the overall sense and meaning of the painting. Michael’s work can be benchmarks and reminders for many.
Michael notes, ‘the painting process’ is an act of worship. His easel is his altar of service and celebration. Michael loves to paint barns, streams, oceans, rivers, pastoral scenes and figurative work. Farm life and its foundational dynamic in building America, strikes many cords among hard working farmers, friends and family.
2015 NOAPS International Online Top 150-‘Farm Fest’
2014–Tim Murphy Art Gallery, Second Place-“Farmer Banks”
2014–Heartland Artist Exhibition, Tim Murphy Art Gallery, Purchase Award-“Broom Maker”
2011–“Strong City SF Railroad Depot” painting, Chase County, KS, selected as a Kansas Lottery Scratchers’ ticket for the year-Kansas Sesquicentennial Celebration.
2010–MidAmerica Pastel National Exhibition and Competition Winner
2008–Paint America Association “Paint The Parks” National Top 100 Competition Winner
2005-06–Arts for the Parks Top 100 Award-Bronze Medallion Marine Art Award of Merit,
2005–International Artist Magazine, “Red Onions”, published in the June/July 2005 issue
Teaching: Adjunct-Professor: Color Theory, Drawing, & Painting, MidAmerica Nazarene University
Representation: SouthWind Gallery, KS, Signs of Life Gallery, KS, Bottonwood Art Space Gallery, KCMO
Community:Northern Art League Presentation, Fairview Christian Church, ‘The Making of an Artist’, Gladstone, MO. Presentation of biographical narrative ‘The Making of an Artist’, Sketch Box Committee, KCAI. Michael has also donated his artwork to raise money for scholarships and charitable organizations: Horizon Academy, KS. MidAmerica Nazarene University Autumn Auction; Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral Dean’s Cup Auction; KCPT Auction; Plains Permanent collection at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln; the Yellow House; and Missouri State University-West Plains.
Artist Statement:
What are the driving forces that compel you to want to capture and
paint any particular subject matter?
IMPACT
First….it is the immediate optical visceral impact the subject has upon me: whether it be the dynamic overriding dramatic lighting upon the subject; whether it be the chiaroscuro interplay of warm and cool of the setting, or whether it be the overture of the design of the narrative. It is a revelation of sorts where one ‘sees things for the first time’, so to speak, a discovery of the ‘awe factor’ and unspoken beauty in the simplicities and or complexities of the thing.
CAPTURING
Second….It is the great need and intensity to capture the exact moment in time that is unique, identifiable, remarkable, wonderful, breath-taking and ‘otherworld’. As an artisan, I love to capture subjects that have a specific connectivity with my own set of values and visual esthetic. These are the things I naturally gravitate towards. Artisans have to be true to themselves.
REFLECTION
Third….It is the context, content and depth of what the artisan beholds. When I poetically interpret with brush and medium on canvas, there is a recall of notes and color sense of that particular time and space. There is a demand of skill and talent to effectively create that moment of what the creator beheld as monumental and meaningful. Reinvention and reflection are combined to create a pleasing whole.
