MICHAEL D. HARRIS

Michael was born in Southern California, in 1965.  He had always been involved with making art through out his childhood. His mother even said, “He did not read books he drew them.”  In 1987, he graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.F.A. in Sculpture and in 1990 he earned his M.F.A. from San Jose State University in California.

 During college Michael’s artistic focus was constructing large site specific room installations that would envelop the viewer.  Yet the years following college his work focused on constructing small works that were influenced by his geographical surrounding. He called these works, “architectural landscapes,” which would invite the viewer to examine the work on an intimate scale while creating a monumental experience.

Michael had lived most of his life in Southwestern United States, until 2003, when he and his family moved to South Florida. At first Michael was challenged by the flat terrain of Florida as compared to the Western U.S. Even after many trips to the Everglades, and still wanting to have his work reflect these unique and important surroundings, he was stumped.  It wasn’t until after experiencing and observing major weather systems did he think to look at Florida’s geography from a bird’s eye point of view. Satellite mapping data has allowed him to see the intricacy of Florida’s water systems and become inspired by them.  From that time on he has concentrated his efforts to recreating Florida’s waterways from two dimensional images into three dimensional forms. Michael currently creates his Waterway sculptures at his studio at Studio 18 in the Pines.