Michael's Studio

Introducing the Artist 

Michael Simonelli was born in New Haven, Connecticut in Oct. of 1946. Except for a tour of duty with the US Marine Corp (including13 months spent in active combat in Vietnam), he has spent most of his life working in the greater New Haven area.

Michael attended Paier College of Art in Hamden, Connecticut where he studied Fine Arts, mechanical drafting, and technical illustration; New Haven College for mechanical engineering; and recently took classes in metal welding at the Creative Workshop in New Haven. Michael has pursued his love of the fine arts over the years, while raising two daughters, and making his living first by contracting for project work in mechanical design and drafting with companies such as Sikorsky Aircraft, Pratt and Whitney, Aerospace, and IBM; then working as a removal business specializing in the removal of large trees in treacherous locations requiring careful planning and the aid of cranes, and now contracting for smaller scale construction projects so that he can turn more attention to art once again. The artist currently lives within blocks of New Haven center in one direction, and the Yale University campus in another, and enjoys the lively environment afforded by this location.

At fifty-six years old, Michael still has the blond hair and blue eyes that speak of his ancestors from northern Italy. His movements are still youthful, and his thinking playful. He is a high-energy person who prefers to work on his art during the night hours and during times of high creativity finds that he sleeps very little.

Paradoxically, Michael relates his experience of painting to his experience of fighting in Vietnam. In both these activities he sees the experience as a struggle towards truth and freedom. In combat there is the literal struggle for physical survival, in producing a work of art there is the struggle to express your essence and vision through your specific artistic mediums. Michael's studio contains an abundance of works in many different stages of completion and in many different mediums: sculptures in metal, wood, stone, and ceramic; sketches in pencil and pastels; paintings in oil and acrylic, and mixed media collages.

Michael's artwork has been displayed in years past in the greater New Haven area, and has appeared in the internationally circulated publication, "Art News." Michael's other current pleasures besides scientific literature, and spending quality time with his daughters, Jennifer and Michelle, and his two dogs, Dominique and Mona (Lisa).