Robert Michener

Robert Michener was born in l935 in the small, farming community of Preston, in the southeast corner of Minnesota. The hardwood covered hills, limestone cliffs, and fertile valleys of that area along with the mountains and coasts of British Columbia have long been a visual and emotional source for Michener's landscape paintings. Upon graduation from Preston High School in l953, Michener entered Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota where he received a BA degree in l957. After a two year stint in the U. S. Army, he entered graduate school at The University of Minnesota where he completed his MFA degree in painting in 1962. Michener taught art at the University of Minnesota, Western Washington University and the University of Cincinnati before immigrating to Canada in l973 to accept a position at the Vancouver School of Art (subsequently The Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design) where he retired from teaching in l999. Michener's work has been shown in more than twenty solo shows in Canada and the United States as well as numerous two artist, group exhibitions and competitive shows across North America and Europe. His works are included in more than two hundred public, corporate and private collections in Canada, the U. S. and Europe among them The Department of External Affairs, Canada, The British Columbia Provincial Collection, The Canada Council Art Bank, The Vancouver Art Gallery, The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, The University of Lethbridge, The University of Cincinnati, Petro Canada, Fletcher Challenge Canada Ltd, and the Claridge (Bronfman) Collection. Michener's studio and home are in Surrey, B.C., where he lives with his wife, painter Ann Nelson and their daughter Suzanna. Michener also has a son and a daughter from a previous marriage.