Born in County Durham, Michael studied Fine Art at Sunderland Polytechnic. Throughout the 1980’s he lived and worked in Newcastle upon Tyne, teaching drawing at the Polytechnic and Cleveland College of Art and Design. He was a member of The Waterloo Street Artists Studio Group and a spell in Leeds culminated in solo exhibitions at The University of Bradford Art Gallery, and Dixon Bates Gallery Leeds. In 1992 He attended The Royal Academy Schools postgraduate painting course, receiving a travel award to visit Mexico to study the Murals of Diego Rivera. For many years he was Senior Lecturer in Visual Studies at the London College of Fashion. He currently teaches at the New English Drawing School and at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.