Mike Larsen

(American)

     Researching the history of the people he paints and sculpts, Mike Larsen spends much of his studio time in books. Accuracy in regalia and dress tell much about his subjects. For over forty years, he has spent his life as a full time artist.

     Born in 1944 of Chickasaw heritage, Mike grew up in farming communities in Oklahoma and Texas. Beginning at Amarillo Junior College, continuing at the University of Houston and concluding at the prestigious Arts Student League in New York City, Mike studied traditional art disciplines.

     Starting his career doing street fairs he rapidly progressed to nationally known art festivals. That phase ended in the early 1990's and for nearly 20 years he has been represented by galleries throughout the United States. Mike spends most of his time creating paintings and sculpture commissioned by Governments, Corporations and Individuals.

     Mike’s love for painting and sculpting dancing figures began when he was commissioned by the State of Oklahoma to paint a 26 foot long mural for the Capitol Rotunda of five internationally prominent ballet dancers, all born in the state. He has been honored to paint eight murals - four about teaching the arts and four about local Native American History - for the Oklahoma Art Institute and six murals for the University of Oklahoma Reynolds Performing Art Center and School of Dance.

     In 2008, Mike completed the two year project of eight murals for the Pokagon Band Potowatomi Tribe in Michigan. He has completed the Chickasaw Nation's Living Elders project and it is currently hanging in the Oklahoma Heritage Center. A second book on the Living Elders is in production at this time.

     He recently completed a public commission for a twice life sized sculpture for St. Joseph's Regional Health Center in Patterson, NJ, and is preparing to work on a project on the Civil War in Oklahoma.