history

Mike Sweeney’s early visual arts experience and M.F.A. begat an interest in social engagement and bridges between visual and textual literacy. He has engaged parallel careers in Art, libraries, and schools over three decades, not as day jobs but as a holistic approach to nourishing diverse skill sets and understandings.

After training on the job in antique furniture restoration. Mike refocused on craft technique and poetic language in his work. Using analog approaches to material manipulation, print, and object making, Mike works with woven paper, concrete, and wood to explore ideas of palimpsest and noise, identity and place, and knowledge, perspective and meaning.

Selected Exhibitions

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  

Commisions/Private Collections

2023     

• 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, birdseye 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)

2010

• Fish, painted and woven paper (L. Champagne, Gales Ferry, CT)

2005

• Series of three, pith helmet, white pumpkin, and watering can, hand carved and painted wooden garden sculptures (E. Allen, Middletown, CT)

1997

• Butternut Linen Cabinet, original design and creation of a standing linen cabinet in butternut with maple door pulls (P. Russman, Portland, Oregon)

1995

• Demon Chairs, carved and painted armchairs (E. Allen, Middletown, CT)

• Cats Know Why, carved and painted frame, etched mirror with text and image (M. Patnode, Cranberry Lake, NY)
• Mirror Cracked, carved and painted frame, etched mirror with text and image (L. Patnode, Balston Spa, NY)

1994

• Rider on Horse, photo transfer and woodblock print on paper (L. Gordy, Spartanburg, S.C.)

Bibliography

• Rag & Pulp (paper arts book feature), Uppercase! 2023.
• Look/Listen feature, Uppercase Magazine. Issue 56, 2023.
• The Mandarin (print edition), Autumn 2022. 
• Pressing Matters Newsletter, September 2022.
• Contemporary Collage Magazine, Issue 11 - Three Word Challenge, Straight Forwardly
• Palimpsest, August 2022 
• Osmosis Press Featured Writing - Tortoise Maze (visual poem), November 2021
• View from the Easel, Hyperallergic, 2021 
• #MGNECONNECTS (cover image), Monotype Guild of New England - dedicated to the art of the unique print, 2020
• Paperology R.A.G., University of Montreal, Artefact Laboratory, 2020/2021
• Michael Sweeney (feature/interview), LandEscape Now! 10th edition, September 2019

Memberships

International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA)