Mike Stiler Biography
Born: Rochester, NY 5/20/46
After finishing art school (Syracuse University, '69/sculpture major) I spent 6 years at the Rochester Zen Center, in Rochester, NY, involved in the study and practice of Zen Meditation under the guidance of Roshi Philip Kapleau. During this time, I worked as an elementary school art teacher for inner city schools and later on, worked as a pictorial bulletin artist (billboard painter) for Foster & Kleiser of NYC. Since I had been trained to draw and paint in more or less classical tradition, it became my primary role at F & K, to paint figures, faces and hands; an interesting challenge while standing a on scaffold, ten stories above traffic.
My experience at the Zen Center was essential, but, in 1975, feeling a sense of completion, I moved to Kennebunkport, ME, where I settled and built a house and helped raise my two daughters, Zoë & Ruby. I began my own business and, for 18 years, worked as a sign maker, specializing in custom signage and carved wooden signs.
In 1992, my wife, Dyan Berk, and I, moved to Monhegan Island, where we lived, year round, until 2001. At that time, seeking adequate workspace to accommodate growing gallery demands, we purchased a house and studio in Lincolnville, ME, where we now live and work during the winter months.
My artwork is collected and represented internationally and is represented in Maine by Greenhut Galleries, in Portland as well as Stiler/Berk Studio on Monhegan Island.
I have greatly benefited from residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, in Johnson, VT ('97,'98,'99,'00,'02), as well as drawing workshops with Hugh O'Donnell and drawing intensives with Graham Nixon at the Studio School in NYC.
In 2001, I initiated a series of painting workshops on Monhegan, called 'Radical Paint', where participants are invited to suspend their conditioned ideas of 'good' and 'bad' art and are encouraged to work with their immediate response to form & color. The inspiration to develop these workshops has been a natural outgrowth of my ongoing involvement in Zen meditation combined with a constant inquiry into the creative process.
