Small Island #1

Michael K. Paxton is a well-established, Chicago-based artist and sixth-generation West Virginian. He is currently the subject of a documentary film Work at Hand  released in 2018. Paxton was an adjunct faculty member of Columbia College for sixteen years, he retired from teaching in 2021 and is currently Professor Emeritus. Paxton has his BA in Art from Marshall University, 1975 and an MFA in Drawing and Painting from The University of Georgia, 1979.

Paxton’s career spans more than four decades of one-person gallery and museum exhibitions, national and international grants and fellowships, private and public commissions, and decades of critical support for his work. Paxton’s many awards include a grant from the Adolph & Esther Gottlieb Foundation, Inc., New York; Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Visual Art Award and two Professional Development Grants; Fellowships with both Air le Parc, Project and Research Center, Pampelonne, France and Jentel Artist Residency Program, Banner, Wyoming; a Marshall University Alumni Award of Distinction; five Professional Development Grants from Columbia College, Chicago and the documentary film Work at Hand , Michael K. Paxton  Official Selection of the 17thAnnual Great Lakes International Film Festival.