Michael Sturdy is an American poet and painter

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

.

Sturdy has been writing poetry and painting since the early 1980s. He is the recipient of a National Scholastics Goldkey for his painting "Dancing Stalks". He began his writing career with the publication of the short story, "John Walker, and the wonders of his head," published in the magazine, "Yeah, Whatever!" in 1988. In the early 1990s, he began to edit for Berserk Publications.

Background

Sturdy was born in Detroit, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, and was raised in Plymouth, MI. He attended Salem High School in the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park

Plymouth-Canton Educational Park

The Plymouth-Canton Educational Park encompasses three public secondary schools—Salem High School, Canton High School, and Plymouth High School—in Canton Township, Michigan, United States. PCEP is located on a campus in Wayne County...

 where he began his training under the guidance of Kris Darby and Graham Martin. After attending Salem High School, he attended Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University

Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...

. While at Eastern, he studied with the notable writers, Clayton Eshleman

Clayton Eshleman

Clayton Eshleman is an American poet, translator, and editor.-Life:Eshleman has been translating since the early 1960s. He is the recipient of the National Book Award in 1979 for his co-translation of César Vallejo's Complete Posthumous Poetry...

, Larry Smith

Larry Smith

Larry W. Smith, CQ is an athlete, businessperson and member of the Canadian Senate.-Education:He graduated from Bishop's University with a degree in economics before going on to be a professional player in the Canadian Football League...

, and Janet Kauffman

Janet Kauffman

Janet Kauffman is an American novelist, poet, and mixed media artist.-Biography:Kauffman was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She has taught in the English Department at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan since 1988...

. He was also a pupil of Bei Dao

Bei Dao

Bei Dao is the pseudonym of Chinese poet Zhao Zhenkai . He was born in Beijing, his pseudonym was chosen because he came from the north and because of his preference for solitude...

. Since then, he has gone on to work as a journalist, an editor, and has contributed to the publication of textbooks, dictionaries and critical texts. He is currently teaching Western Literature at Tokyo Metropolitan University

Tokyo Metropolitan University

Tokyo Metropolitan University is one of the largest public universities in Japan...

 in Tokyo.

Style

Sturdy paints in the abstract-expressionist style. However, his style varies in that it attempts, not only to release the image, but to release the texture, the hue and the light of the emotive connections to the conscious mind through form and motion.

External links

• Official Webpage
• Michael Sturdy at Digital Consciousness