Glen Michaels

Glen Michaels was born on July 21, 1927, in Spokane, Washington.{{Cite web |title=Oral history interview with Glen Michaels, 1981 July 1 |url=http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-glen-michaels-12291 |accessdate=May 16, 2012 |work=Archives of American Art |publisher=Smithsonian Institution}} He attended Yale School of Music to study piano from 1950 to 1952, but did not finish his degree. He moved to New York City and worked for Harper's Magazine but later returned to Spokane where he attended Eastern Washington College of Education and received his B.A. in Art Education in 1957. After receiving his degree, he taught art at a local public school for two years.

Michaels moved to Michigan to pursue an M.F.A at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. He had a major in painting and a ceramics minor. After graduating, he stayed at Cranbrook working at Young People's Art Center (1958 - 1965). He taught at both Wayne State University (1966-1968) and the University of Windsor (1970 -1971).

Michaels' early ambition was to become a cartoonist and during his time at Yale he was able to pursue it. He work was published in both the Yale Daily News and the Yale Record.The Yale Record ("Smut!" Issue). New Haven: Yale Record. February, 1951. p. 3. He eventually published a book, [https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36592292 Oh! You're a musician : a book of cartoons]{{Cite book|title=Oh! You're a musician|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/36592292|last=Michaels|first=Glen|date=1951|via=worldcat.org|oclc = 36592292|access-date=May 21, 2020}}(1951). He was encouraged by Mary Petty and Alan Dunn to seek cartooning and illustration work. He left Yale in the summer of 1952, moving to New York City. He found there was a market for his illustrations, but with little financial success. "I realized that the field of art needed an education, so I must go back to school. So at twenty-six I started all over again." He moved back to Spokane to attend Eastern Washington College of Education.

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Michaels spoke of how the landscape of the Pacific Northwest, especially the basalt columns influenced his sculpture. His works usually included chipped tiles that echo these rock formations. The influence of the art and calligraphy of Japan is also visible. In 1960 spent two months there, including a few weeks staying at a Zen temple.{{Cite web|title=Oral History of Glen Michaels speaking of work at the Frank Lloyd Wright Smith House, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan|url=https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipO7S3xMk7hwCBcsDjXCLZ7CMIah8ZTtBbLLytNxBSQSi-BgBLWGhpEb6WWj48D7dA?key=RFNZalZHR0Nsbjktb0dDeUhPdVV3Y2hjSDUwendB|last=Adkisson|first=Kevin|date=May 2020|website=|access-date=May 21, 2020}} He was entranced by how the manicured gardens blended perfectly into the wild. Both influences found their way into the site specific screen he created for the Frank Lloyd Wright Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Melvyn Maxwell and Sara Stein Smith House.{{Cite web|title=Frank Lloyd Wright Smith House|url=https://center.cranbrook.edu/frank-lloyd-wright-smith-house-cranbrook-and-smiths|last=|first=|date=November 2017|website=center.cranbrook.edu|access-date=May 21, 2020}}

Early in his career his work was shown at the Bertha Schaefer Gallery in New York City (October 3–22, 1960 and January 2–20, 1962). His work was well reviewed in the New York Times by art critic John Canaday (January 7, 1962).{{Cite news|last=Canaday|first=John|date=January 7, 1962|title=Sculpture Coming Up|page=131|work=New York Times|url=https://nyti.ms/2ZJps2a}} Michaels was featured at the opening night event for the 1968 Museum of Contemporary Crafts exhibition "Objects Are...?{{Cite web|title=M-61 Objects Are...?|url=https://digital.craftcouncil.org/digital/collection/pid0/custom/M-61-Objects-Are|last=Ahmann Wilson|first=Margit|date=July 8, 2014|website=American Craft Council|access-date=May 21, 2020}}". "The invitation requested that attendees bring with them an object – “larger or smaller than a breadbox, anything from a paper clip to a barn door” – as their ticket to admission. These objects became part of an object collage produced on the spot by “master assembler” artist Glen Michaels".{{Cite web|title=What Are Objects, Anyway?|url=https://craftcouncil.org/post/what-are-objects-anyway|website=American Craft Council|language=en|access-date=2020-05-22}} Michaels was singled out in a New Yorker Talk of the Town feature by George W. S. Trow.{{Cite magazine|title=Objects|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1968/07/06/objects-2|last=Trow|first=George W. S.|date=July 6, 1968|magazine=The New Yorker|language=en|access-date=2020-05-22}}

His work installations include the Bricktown Station (Detroit People Mover), the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the IMF in Washington, D.C. and the Ford Motor Company 1964 New York World's Fair exhibit (now installed in the Henry Ford Centennial Library).{{Cite web |url= http://www.thepeoplemover.com/Bricktown.id.56.htm |title= Bricktown Station Art |publisher= Detroit Transportation Corporation |accessdate= May 16, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120225000401/http://www.thepeoplemover.com/Bricktown.id.56.htm |archive-date= February 25, 2012 |url-status= dead }}{{cite news |title= From Another Pointe of View |first= Janet |last= Mueller |url= http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/digitize/newspapers/gpnews/1970-74/74/1974-01-03.pdf |newspaper= Grosse Pointe News |page= 9 |date= January 3, 1974 |accessdate= May 16, 2012 |archive-date= March 4, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304053139/http://digitize.gp.lib.mi.us/digitize/newspapers/gpnews/1970-74/74/1974-01-03.pdf |url-status= dead }} Mr. Michaels was honored and exhibited at the Scarab Club{{Cite web|title=Scarab Clube|url=https://scarabclub.org/|last=|first=|date=|website=Scarab Club|access-date=May 19, 2020}} in Detroit, at the time of his 90th birthday.{{Cite web|title=Beams exhibition April 5-May 20, 2017|url=https://scarabclub.org/beams/|last=|first=|date=|website=Scarab Club|access-date=May 19, 2020}} In 2017, Mr. Michaels was asked by the Downtown NewsMagazine to name his favorite sculpture. He replied, “Whatever is the most recent is always my favorite.”{{Cite web|title=Glen Michaels|url=https://www.downtownpublications.com/single-post/2017/09/28/Glen-Michaels|last=Solomon|first=Judith Harris|date=September 28, 2017|website=|access-date=May 19, 2020}}

Michaels was amused when his friend, author Elmore Leonard, used his name as a character in this novel Out of Sight. In the film, the role is played by Steve Zahn.

Glen Michael died on October 17, 2020, in Birmingham, Michigan where he lived and work most of his life. He was 93.{{Cite web |date=2020-10-20 |title=Cranbrook Academy of Art Mourns the Loss of Alumnus H. Glen Michaels |url=https://cranbrookart.edu/2020/10/20/cranbrook-academy-of-art-mourns-the-loss-of-alumnus-h-glen-michaels/ |access-date=2020-10-21 |website=Cranbrook Academy of Art}}

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Category:1927 births

Category:2020 deaths

Category:21st-century American sculptors

Category:Yale School of Music alumni

Category:Eastern Washington University alumni

Category:Cranbrook Academy of Art alumni

Category:Wayne State University faculty

Category:Academic staff of University of Windsor

Category:20th-century American sculptors

Category:Artists from Spokane, Washington