(b. 1947)
Michael Stack was born in 1947 in New York and raised in California. Stack was always interested in being a painter, but in his early years he supported himself with various jobs. Upon moving to Arizona in 1970 to work as a ranch caretaker, however, the beautiful Sonoran Desert inspired him to turn to a serious career as a landscape painter. There in the high, rolling grasslands of southern Arizona, where “all you see is sky,” Stack began to paint canvases reflective of the early American Hudson River Painters.
A self-taught artist, Stack focuses on capturing the fleeting moment of shadow, light and color that awakens an emotional response. Often, he chooses to paint the subtle places in nature that many people pass by to remind others of the beauty which surrounds them. His technique of layering paint enables him to recreate the range of color and distance found in his panoramas. The rugged mountains, arid deserts and sea of grasslands found across the Southwest hold a special connection for the artist, who has lived in Bisbee, Sonoita, Tucson, Mexico, Wyoming, and currently Taos, NM.
Stack is the recipient of many honors including the title of Master Artist at the Artist of America Show in Denver, CO. He is one of Art of the West magazine’s favorite cover artists, and has participated in every major Western art show. Stack also has work in the permanent collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO.
