FWA in the Studio ~ Michael Ewing

More About Michael Ewing…

A native of Detroit, Ewing has lived and traveled extensively in the southwest for many years, and it is a westerner’s perception that gives the works their personality. Much of Ewing’s effort attends to architectural detail, setting up the relationship between bright sunlight saturating the scene, the shadows produced, and the curves and lines of the building or wall, often adobe upon which they play. He comes by his affection for architecture naturally. Originally a student of that discipline at the Lawrence Institute of Technology in Michigan, Ewing was redirected toward fine art when a professor looked at his renderings, which had a distinctly watercolor air, and commented, “Why aren’t you studying fine art?” 

Ewing graduated from Detroit’s Mercy College in 1974 with a degree in fine art/painting, a minor in math and a teaching credential. He moved west with his family in 1979 and began working with an engineering firm doing building surveys on Indian reservations. From this experience, Michael’s artistic insight into the southwest grew quickly. Michael taught art for many years and worked on his art as time provided. Teaching became a smaller and smaller part of his life as his successes in art became increasingly frequent and challenging. Now his palette is based upon the light, color, and architecture of New Mexico, Arizona, and California almost exclusively.

Articles on Ewing’s work have appeared in Art of the West (March/April 1993); Southwest Art (December 1989); and Focus/Santa Fe (October-December 1996). Ewing’s subject matter often provides a new look at the old west. Combining the impressionist Love of light-drenched images with echoes of the Taos school’s brush technique, he also demonstrates a thoroughly modern color sensibility and feels for composition.

Michael has been an Honorary Artist Member of the Mountain Oyster Club since 1990. He has been an active member of Friends of Western Art for many years as well. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board. He is the co-founder of our “Operation Western Art” Teacher Art Supply Grant Program and continues to play a key leadership role in this effort. In the past, he has been a member of the Board and served two terms as President, the first in the 1990’s and most recently from 2016-18.