Michael J. Downes was born in Garryowen, Limerick City, Ireland, and is a U.S. Air Force veteran. He studied at New York’s School of Visual Arts, The School of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., The School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the De Cordova Museum School in Lincoln, Massachusetts. At Tennessee State University he gained a degree in Art Education and later taught in high schools in Maryland and New Jersey.

Michael’s artistic talent was recognized in the business world where he worked in advertising (Ted Bates, Co., NYC) and as a fashion illustrator. He also established a successful career working for the U.S. government as an illustrator and designer. He was art director for the Army Research and Development Center in Natick, Massachusetts, where he designed exhibits which were displayed at NATO conferences worldwide, the Kennedy Space Center bicentennial exhibit and in the Capitol Rotunda, Washington D.C.

Currently residing in New Mexico and Vermont, Michael hopes you enjoy these new selections from his extensive bodies of work.