Michael Stack finds inspiration for his paintings from the landscapes around his home in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tucson, Arizona. His painting are all of actual places that Stack has visited. Stack's paintings are noted for the use of light and cloud formations.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Michael Stack (NY 1947- ) was born in New York and raised in California. He is self-taught and has always been interested in art, primarily landscape painting. For the past twenty years, he has lived and painted in New Mexico and Arizona, and has sought to capture on canvas the skies and the openness of the southwestern landscape.The focus of his works is the fleeting moment of shadow, light and color that awakens an emotional response in the viewer.

His paintings are included in collections in the United States, Europe and Japan. Stack's work has appeared on the cover as the featured artist of "Southwest Art", August 1992 and "Art of the West", August-September 1993. He has also been featured in "Southwest Art" in 1987, "U.S. Art" in and 1989 as well as various other national and local publications.

In the fall of 1997 Stack was inducted as a Master Artist for the Artist of America show sponsored by the Denver Rotary. In 1996 we was named the Tucson Artist of the Year, the twenty-fourth to be honored.

Source: Kent Whipple, Art Professional

Michael Stack

A traditional oil painter of southern Arizona landscapes "reminiscent of the Old Masters," born in Monticello, New York in 1947 and he has been living in Taos, New Mexico since 1981. "How I paint," he says, is "I get an idea for a painting and usually rough it in real fast on a stained canvas. After it dries, I will go in and start putting on paint, then I start glazing and scumbling and applying paint where needed and whatever it takes to make the painting look right. From that painting, I usually get an idea for another."

"I moved from New York to Southern California at three and lived there until 1971. I have been interested in drawing and painting as far back as I can remember and became interested in oil painting in junior high school. A self-taught artist, I have had no formal art education other than in public school classes. After high school, I did odd jobs and traveled extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada, always hoping to be able to make a living from painting. In 1971, I moved to Sonoita, a small town in southeastern Arizona."

"Five years ago, I decided to give art a try after saving enough money. Because where I lived in Sonoita was somewhat isolated, I didn't get out to associate with other artists. The first year was very tough, but each year things began improving. Since 1978, I have sold every piece of work entered into shows, but most have been purchased from my studio by private collectors. When I left my studio this past year, I had over thirty commissions to complete for collectors. I do not like to have my work sitting around because if I do, I am constantly going back to it and trying to perfect it.

Resource: Contemporary Western Artists, by Peggy and Harold Samuels 1982, Judd's Inc., Washington, D.C.