Michael Braden’s training as a painter included formal studies in art and design.  His critical introduction to the arts was through an apprenticeship in painting at the age of twelve under the guidance of Peter Busa, an expat of the New York art scene and cohort of Jackson Pollock.  At fifteen he apprenticed under a professional photographer.  He was equally pulled by art and science, and to this day these fields of inquiry inform his paintings.  Michael studied Theoretical Physics at the University of Wisconsin, received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota with highest distinction, and received a Master of Architecture from the University of Washington with honors.

With a distinguished career as a professional artist, Michael is represented in museums and private collections internationally.  His work has been shown at the Riverside Art Museum, Bellevue Art Museum, the British Institute of Architects, Portland Art Museum, Ridhwan Sculpture Garden, and at the Grounds For Sculpture. He has won numerous international competitions and received widespread acclaim and honors for his innovation and design.

Michael’s paintings are rooted in the confluence of the Great Plains and the Boreal forest of Minnesota. He challenges the viewer to examine the space of ‘in-between,’ how we subsist within these spaces, and how we reconstruct our vision of place (memory).