Mike Sweeney is a contemporary fine artist specializing in handwoven paper, printmaking, and drawing as well as paper and mixed media sculpture.
Mike's recent paper works are woven from pre-printed papers that have been shredded mechanically or sliced apart by hand. He recombines them into patterns of text, color, image fragments, and the over-under texture of the weaving. The process of weaving both strengthens the paper and obscures the character of source material as each strip covers and reveals details in tiny segments.
With paper formed, Mike prints drawings from daily life and the media. He uses drypoint and block printing to create monotypes that convey digital and physical fragments of everyday life that inform our conceptions of the world.
Mike’s current work ranges in scale from intimate, small works to large wall pieces and multi-part installations - each woven and printed by hand using traditional techniques.
Bibliography
2024 Gull, a collaborative print limited edition on handwoven paper with Milestone Graphics Fine Prints, New Haven, CT
2023 Pressing Matters 24, Behind the Print; Rag & Pulp (paper arts book feature); Uppercase Publishing; Look/Listen feature, Uppercase Magazine, Issue 56
2022 The Mandarin (print edition), Pressing Matters Newsletter; Contemporary Collage Magazine, Issue 11 - Straight Forwardly Palimpsest
2021 Osmosis Press Featured Writing - Tortoise Maze (visual poem); View from the Easel, Hyperallergic
2020 #MGNECONNECTS (cover image), Monotype Guild of New England; Paperology R.A.G., University of Montreal, Artefact Laboratory (2020/2021)
2019 Michael Sweeney (feature/interview), LandEscape Now! 10th edition
Selected Exhibitions
2025 (anticipated)
Brooklyn Print Fair, exhibit and sale of handwoven prints featured by Milestone Graphics & Fine Prints, Brooklyn, NY
2024
Small Works Juried Exhibition, Five Points Gallery, Torrington, CT
2023
Juried Exhibition, Prince Street Gallery, New York, New York
Eponymous exhibit at Sweet Harmony Cafe, Middletown First Friday Artsfest, Middletown, CT
Moments of Transformation, 11th Annual Juried Exhibition, Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory, Cleveland, OH
2022
Midsummer Festival, Lyme Academy of the Arts, Old Lyme, CT
Craft Nouveau, (juried exhibition), Blue Line Arts Gallery, Roseville, CA.
Archaeology (solo sculpture exhbit), West Hartford Public Library, West Hartford, CT
Human Faces & Figures (juried exhibition), Las Laguna Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2021
ImPRESSive (juried exhibition), Monotype Guild of New England at the Rhode Island Watercolor Society, Pawtucket, RI.
Cimarron National Works on Paper(juried exhibition), University of Oklahoma, Stillwater, OK.
Memorial.Monument.Movement (juried online exhibit), Art against Racism, NJ.
Variations (juried exhibition), Marblehead Arts Association, Marblehead, MA
2020
8th Annual International Juried Print Exhibition, New Grounds Remarque Print Workshop, Albuquerque, NM
36th Annual Juried Exhibit (juror’s award winner), National Collage Society, (presented online due to COVID-19 restrictions)
No Big Heads (juried self-portrait exhibition due to COVID-19 restrictions), Hugh McPeck Gallery, University of Alaska, Anchorage
2019
in the air... (installation of works from Cloud & Horizon), Pegasus Gallery, Middlesex Community College, Middletown, CT
Press & Release, Chester Gallery of Art at New England College, Henniker, NH
2017
wood. / words., ArtWalk Exhibit with Rafael Oses, Hartford Public Library, Hartford, CT
2016
All of Us or None, Traveling Exhibition for the American Friends Service Committee
Books of Things We Do Not Know - Saxton B Little Library, Columbia, CT
Fall Crafts @ Lyndehurst, Tarrytown, NY
Woven and Painted, Acton Library, Old Saybrook, CT
2015
Autumn Arts Festival, Madison, CT
Avon Arts and Crafts Fall Show, Avon, CT
Group Exhibition, Spectrum Art Gallery and Artisan Store, Centerbrook, CT
Embracing Our Differences, a group billboard exhibit, Sarasota Island Park & Bradenton Riverwalk, FL
Revelation/Revolution (group exhibition), Nails in the Wall Gallery, Metuchen, NJ Nor'EasterExhibition, New Britain Museum of Art, New Britain, CT
2014
1703 Miles and Back, Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn Art Library travelling National Tour
2013
Persistent Technology, exhibition of carved books, Saxton B. Little Library, Columbia, CT
2010
Nor'Easter Exhibition, New Britain Museum of Art, New Britain, CT
2006
Tuning Up, New Haven Symphony Orchestra benefit auction, New Haven, CT
Selected Commissions/Private Collections
2023
Apple Hill at the White Memorial (woven paper print) (Collection of William McDonald, West Hartford, CT), 2023
Hummingbird (woven paper print) (private collection, Connecticut)
Seaplane on the Connecticut River (woven paper print) (Collection of Tidewater Financial Services, West Hartford, CT)
2020
and still, we have his bridge to cross again (preparatory drawing/print) (Collection of Jake Crandall, Montgomery, AL)
Felt Planets (set of 4 from universe of intersections) (Private collection, Germany)
2017
Books of Things We Do Not Know (Set of 4) (Collection of N. Stevens, Mansfield, CT)
Books of Things We Do Not Know (Set of 2) (Collection of J. Finnegan, West Hartford, CT)
2016
A Book of Things We Do Not Know, cedar, birds-eye maple, and chestnut (Stephanie Kallos, novelist and author of Language Arts, Seattle, WA)
Lotus, carved and painted mirror frame, oak (P. Robinson, Willimantic, CT)
2014
A book of things we don’t know, oak and pine (J. Neri, Colchester, CT) A book of things we don’t know, oak and pine (K. Henson, Salem, CT)
2011
Carved Bird, mahogany perched bird (B. James, Salem, CT)
Rob’s Bird, African blackwood bird in flight (R. McLaughlin, East Lyme, CT)
Memberships
International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA)