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Michael K. Paxton was born in Huntington, West Virginia in 1953, the son of fifth generation West Virginians Emerald and Pauline. He grew up in Logan, Raleigh and Wayne Counties in West Virginia and graduated from Vinson High School in 1971. He received a B. A. in Art from Marshall University in 1975 and a MFA in Drawing and Painting from the University of Georgia in 1979. In 1981, while still in Athens Georgia, Michael had a one-person show at the N.A.M.E. Gallery, Chicago, and was a visiting artist at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago at the same time. He moved to Chicago 1983, where he has maintained a studio and resides with his wife of 25 years Jeanne Nemcek.

Michael's recent shows and honors include being selected to take part in the Open Studio for the month of March as part of the Special Projects for the Public Art Program, Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago; his one-person show "The Hidden," large drawings on canvas at the Crown Center Gallery at Loyola University, Chicago; being selected for publication in New American Paintings by Carl Belz, Director Emeritus of the Rose Museum of Brandeis University; and serving as Guest Artist and Lecture at both Loyola University and South Suburban College South Holland, Ill. An interview with John Hospoda, "Three Questions for Michael Paxton," was published by www.gapersblock.com, and his one-person show of wall-sized charcoal on paper drawings, "The Perfume of Shadows," was presented at gescheidle Gallery, Chicago.

Paxton's traveling installation titled "From Enoch to Strange Creek," which deals with his family's long history in Clay and Braxton Counties of West Virginia, has been featured at the Chicago Cultural Center; Muskegon Museum of Art, Michigan; Miami University Museum of Art, Oxford, Ohio; Laura Mesaros Gallery, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia; and the Stifel Fine Arts Center, Wheeling, West Virginia.

Michael's work has been featured in many one-person and invitational group exhibitions across the country. His awards include grants from the Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Illinois Arts Council, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, being juror and exhibition designer for Union Images 2000, Chicago Cultural Center, and being selected for Art and Soul a coffee-table book that features 50 of the most noted people in the arts from West Virginia.

Michael's major commissions include a 4-ft. by 16-ft. mural for the 7th District Federal Reserve bank Vice President's conference room in Chicago and a 72-ft. mural that runs the total circumference of Jensen Metal Products corporate headquarters, Inc., of Racine, Wisc.

Paxton is an Adjunct Instructor in drawing and painting in the Fine Art Department of Columbia College, Chicago, as well as Harrington College of Design, Chicago, and over his long career has been featured as a visiting artist at several colleges and university. A noted public speaker, he has given numerous lectures on his work and been featured on radio and television, as well as in major newspapers and art journals.