Michael Porter

Michael Porter was born 1948 in Derbyshire, a county renowned for its rugged natural beauty, as a child and youth he made the most of his surroundings, walking the dales and climbing the local grit stone. At the age of 15 he attended nearby Nottingham College of Art and later Derby College of Art, completing both ungraduate and post-graduate studies at Chelsea School of Art, and finished his academic training as a Fellow in Fine Art at Gloucestershire College of Art in 1973. From 1974 he worked in the same studio in Hackney, East London until his move to Cornwall in 1997. His work has been regularly exhibited in museums and contemporary galleries in London, Europe and America and has been the recipient of awards including The National Gallery Artist in residence, The Lorne Award London University, The Odin Award RWA, Honorary doctorate from Derby University and more recently Honorary Fellow of University College Falmouth. Selected Exhibitions: 2018 Dirt series, Newlyn Art Gallery, 29th September - 5th January 2019; 2018 The Vanitas series and related works, The Old Lock Up Gallery, Cromford, Derbyshire, 12th May - 16th June; 2017 Vanitas Series, Purdy Hicks Gallery, 6th April - 6th May 2017; 2016 The Seaweed Series, Newlyn Art Gallery 23rd May - 25th June 2016; 2015 Death of Nature, Gerald Moore Gallery, London; 2014 Death of Nature, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, UK, Perception and Illusion, Solo exhibition at Wills Lane Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall, The Picture Room, Newlyn Art Gallery, Newlyn, UK; 2011 Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, Carney Gallery, Regis College, Boston, Mass, USA, Stoneman Gallery, Nature in Art Museum; 2009 Beneath the Surface, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London13th- 25th April, Landscapes, Repton School Art Gallery, 20th April - 26th May, Beneath the Surface, Tregoning Fine Art Gallery, Derby. 24th April, Works on paper, Mediatheque Labecede-Lauragais, France. July 2009; 2008 King's School Art School Gallery, Worcester, The Passage of Time, The Exchange Gallery, Penzance, An Image of Place - Recent Works on Paper, Wills Lane Gallery, St Ives; 2007 Going to Ground, Purdy Hicks Gallery, London, Jane Deering Fine Art, Boston, Mass; 2005 Familiar Walks, work on paper, Purdy/Hicks Gallery, London; 2004 Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA, Scanning the ground, Purdy/Hicks Gallery, London, Sloschberg gallery, Montserrat College of Art Gallery, Beverly, MA, USA; 2003 Work on Paper, Purdy/Hicks Gallery, London, Pathless Woods and Lonely Shore, Derby Museum and Art Gallery; 2002 A Sense of Place, Purdy/Hicks Gallery, London, Gwavas Lake, The Bracknell Gallery, South Hill Park, Berkshire; 2001 Gwavas Lake,Tate Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall. Purdy/Hicks Gallery, London, Six Chapel Row, Bath. (with Christopher Cook); 2000 Purdy/Hicks Gallery, London, Galerie Brennecke, Berlin; Collections: Arthur Andersen, The Arts Council, The British Council, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Bolton Art Museum, Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Cape Ann Historical Association, The Contemporary Art Society, Department of the Environment, Derby Museum and Art Gallery, University of Derby, Deutsche Bank, Government Art Collection, Harewood House, Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, CT, USA, Leicestershire Education Authority, Mag Collection,Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, National Gallery, Canberra, Australia, National Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, National Gallery, London, Nature in Art Museum, Gloucester, New York Public Library, Nottingham University, Reynolds, Porter, Chamberlain Collection, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Smolyan Art Gallery, Bulgaria, Sunderland Museum, Unilever, Victoria and Albert Museum, Warsaw Contemporary Art Museum, Poland, Warwick University, Westminster Hospital, The Whitworth Gallery, Manchester, Yale Centre for British Art.