Save

Save

Save

About Michael

Michael McConnell was born in Michigan, where he used to watch squirrels from the front window. He studied art at the Columbus College of Art & Design, with an emphasis in lithography and painting. After graduating from CCAD, he packed up a U-Haul and drove across country to the Bay Area, where he now lives in San Francisco. In the past 17 years he hasn’t found a good reason to leave. Michael was represented by Braunstein/Quay Gallery in San Francisco for 10 years, but since their closure, he has been on the lookout for new gallery representation. In the meantime he has enjoyed showing with Gauntlet Gallery in San Francisco, Marion and Rose’s Workshop in Oakland, and Abrams Claghorn Gallery in Albany. If not in his studio, you can find Michael drinking coffee at his shop in the Mission District, dancing, or playing light sabers with his family.

 


Artist Statement

Making art is how Michael makes sense of the world and his forgotten childhood. Observing his own anxieties and awkwardness, he creates visual narratives that examine loneliness, responsibility, and choice. In his work, the innocence and vulnerability of children and animals are constrained. The stories unfold in the space between memory and nostalgia, and focus on the tension between youth and maturity.

Save


Curriculum Vitae

Michael McConnell
Born: Garden City, MI, 1977
Education: BFA, Columbus College of Art and Design, 1999

Select Solo Exhibitions

2020  MarinHealth Medical Center Mural Project, Marin, CA
            Covid Critters, Bench Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2019   Abstract/ Concrete, Long Weekend, Oakland, CA

2018   California, I Love You, Long Weekend, Oakland CA

2016  Introvert/Extrovert, Blackbird, San Francisco, CA
2016  You Are Here, Marion and Rose’s Workshop, Oakland, CA

2015  Domesticity, Julia Martin Gallery, Nashville, TN

2014  Cozy, Marion and Rose’s Workshop, Oakland, CA

2013  New Work, SeeSaw, San Francisco, CA
2013  Infinitely Bound, Interface Gallery, Oakland, CA

2012  Games Children Play, Marion and Rose’s Workshop, Oakland, CA

2011  Tethered,  Braunstein/Quay, San Francisco, CA

2009  Slings and Arrows, Gallery Bell Jar, San Francisco, CA

2008  You Can’t Make Them Stay, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008  New Work, Nightingale Gallery, Eastern Oregon University, La Grange, OR

2007   New Works, TAG Gallery, Nashville, TN

2006  Not Out of the Woods Yet, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2006  Delayed Reaction, TAG Gallery, Nashville, TN
2006  The Passport Project, BlueSpace, San Francisco, CA

2004  Passing Between Printmakers, Tusculum College, Greenville, TN

2003  When Things Surface, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2002  Fresh Art, Hammond Harkins Gallery, Bexley, OH

2001  Bounded By Fences, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA

1999  Biting the Bullet, Beaton Gallery, Columbus, OH


Select Group Exhibitions

2022  Untamed Splendor, Antler Gallery, Portland OR
            Dollhouse: Art As Serious Play, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2021   Unnatural Histories X, Antler Gallery, Portland, OR
            Actual Size, Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco, CA
            48 Pillars, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
           Enormous Tiny Art 30, Nahcotta Gallery, Portsmouth, NH

2019  Poison Garden, Antler Gallery, Portland, OR
           Bench Warmers II, Bench Gallery, San Francisco, CA
           Four Squared, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
           Gay Area Queer Art Show, Perdita Shop, San Francisco, CA
           The Flag Show, American Giant, San Francisco, CA

2018  Enormous Tiny Art 24, Nahcotta Gallery, Portsmouth NH
           California Varietals, Baana, San Freancisco, CA
           Audio Visual, Nahcotta Gallery, Portsmouth, NH
           Cultivated Nature, Mills Building, San Francisco, CA

2017  Friends That Never Met, Bench Gallery, San Francisco, CA
           ARC, Nahcotta Gallery, Portsmouth, NH
           Sweet and Low, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA

2016  Enormous Tiny Art 19, Nahcotta Gallery, Portsmouth, NH

2015  September Show, Abrams Claghorn, Albany, CA
2015  Strike Away, Paxton Gate, San Francisco, CA
201 12 x 12, Gauntlet Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2014  Four Squared Alumni, Arc Studios, San Francisco, CA
2014  Contemporary Contemporary, Gauntlet Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014  3636 Project, Paxton Gate Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014  CA 12 x 12, Gauntlet Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2013  Visions and Reflections, Gauntlet Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2013  Small Works, Space Womb Gallery, Long Island City, NY
2013  Bestiary, Smart Clothes Gallery, New York, NY
2013  Peaceable Kingdom, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA

2012  BE:E, La Porte Peinte, Noyers, France
2012  Captured: Specimens in Contemporary Art, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2012  Myths of Progress, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2012  Retrofit, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2011   Four Squared, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011   CaliforNoyers, La Porte Peinte, Noyers, France

2010   7 From the Bay, Marji Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2010  Graphic Nature, SOAP Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010  Four Squared, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010  Introductions: Where Are They Now?, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010  Ruth Braunstein Collection: 1961–Present, Santa Cruz, CA
2010  ID Redux, Cain Schulte Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2009 Works 066-091, Marine Art Salon, Santa Monica, CA
2009  Keepers, Skinner Howard Gallery, Sacramento, CA
2009  Super Flat, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2009  Natural Blunders, The de Saisset Museum, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
2009  Hare and the Hounds 2, 18 Reasons, San Francisco, CA

2008  Story Telling, Illges Gallery, Columbus State University, Columbus, GA
          
2008  Critters,
Stewart/Kummer Gallery, Gualala, CA
          
2008  Draw Too: A Drawing Show In 4 Parts
, SOO Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN
2008  Hare and the Hounds, BlueSpace Gallery, San Francisco, CA
           
2008  If These Walls Could Talk
, Reaves Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008  Cathedral Arts Festival Juried Exhibition, Jersey City, NJ

2007  On the 13th Day, Reaves Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007  Dollar Bill Project, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007  Group Exhibition, Michelle O’Connor Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007  Wish You Were Here, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY

2006  California Dreamin’, diRosa Preserve, Napa, CA
           
2006  Bedtime Stories, Limn Gallery, San Francisco, CA
           
2006  Don’t Call Me Fluffy, ARSpace, San Francisco, CA

2005  Wish You Were Here, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
2005  Paper Awesome, Pigman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2005  What Did Puck Say?, Heidi Cho Gallery, New York, NY

2004  Hard Candy, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
           
2004  Altered Egos, Dolores Park Café, San Francisco, CA
           
2004  State of the Nation, Intersection of the Arts, San Francisco, CA

2001  Introductions South, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA

2000 Members Show, City Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2000 How We Breathe, Breathing Spaces, Emeryville, CA
2000 Printmakers, City Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2000 Personal Expressions: 3 Perspectives on Identity and Representation, Genentech, Inc., San Francisco, CA
2000 Locals, Adobe Books, San Francisco, CA

1999  San Francisco’s Queer Youth, Oakland Marriott Exhibition Hall, Oakland, CA

1999  Small Works, Hammond Harkins Gallery, Bexley, OH

1999  Best of Senior Thesis: Select Works, Joseph Canzani Center, Columbus, OH
1999  Firexit 7, McKinley Warehouse Space, Columbus, OH


Bibliography
  • 25 Artists to Watch, Watercolor Magazine, Fall 2011

  • 100 Artists of the West Coast II, Tina Skinner, Schiffer Publishing, 2009
  • New American Paintings 79: Juried by Ritz Gonzalez
, 2008
  • Nashville Scene, “One Thing Leads to Another”, by David Maddox, November 23, 2006

  • The Tennessean, “A Strong Reaction”, by Jonathan Marx, November 3, 2006

  • Artweek, “Partially Told Stories”, by Kristin Palm, May 2006

  • “ReGeneration: Telling Stories from Our Twenties”, Jennifer Karlin and Amelia Borofsky, 2003

  • The Columbus Dispatch, “Six New Faces Show Promise”, July 7, 2002
  • The San Francisco Examiner, “Ex Files”, by Anne Crump, July 10, 2001
 

Academic Appointments and Lectures
  • 
2011–2020 yearly guest teacher at Redwood High School, Marin, Artist’s Voice class
  • Residency at LPP, Noyers, France

  • Eastern Oregon University, Visiting Lecture

  • 2008 SECA Award nominee

  • Columbus State University, GA, Visiting Lecture and Demo
  • 
UC Berkeley, Visiting Lecture in Painting

  • Clay Studios, Space 743, Guest Curator, “Partially Told Stories”

Private Collections
  • Private Collection of Sandy Besser, Santa Fe, NM

  • Private Collection of Paule Anglim, San Francisco
, CA
  • Private Collection of John Delois, San Francisco, CA

  • Private Collection of Charlie Cowels, New York, NY

  • Private Collection of Sharon Bishop, Detroit, MI


 

bunnyyarn