Michael received his MFA form the University of Minnesota in 1978 and moved to New York City where he lived for the next 15 years. He was at the forefront of the Glass Art movement and worked at the New York Experimental Glass Workshop (now called Urban Glass in Brooklyn, N.Y.). His work has been heavily influenced by his time in the Vietnam War and a number of his bodies of work exploring these experiences include the ‘Damaged Bone Series’, the ‘Implement Series’, the ‘Portrait Series’, and the ‘Amphora Series’. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally and his work is in the permanent collections of numerous museums in the United States and in Europe. His most recent work is based on a series exploring imagery on clay.