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Michael J. Lavery |
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| Michael J.
Lavery is recognized as one of California’s finest artists. His
Renaissance approach to life includes painting in oils and watercolors,
sculpting, music, writing and professional sports. This diversity makes
him unique amongst his contemporaries. Michael was born in Arlington,
Massachusetts in 1959, the second of five children. He first started
painting by age six, earning his first awards in elementary school.
Lavery’s father was a professional baseball player and he later became
a history teacher and coach. Michael inherited the artistic gift from
his mother and feels that God blessed him with the best of both worlds.
It is not often that art and sports mix, however, in the Lavery family,
it was a natural. Being the oldest of four brothers, there was plenty of
inspiration and competition with the sibling rivalry.
Lavery began his formal art education at Phillips Exeter Academy where he excelled in the classroom and the playing fields. Upon a successful high school education, Michael received a scholarship to Amherst College. The decision to pursue a career in the fine arts was firmly established in the young artist’s mind by his freshman year. Professors Robert Sweeny and Karl Smaltz influenced his painting style. At Amherst, his multi-faceted outlook at life earned him the reputation as the "Renaissance Man". He graduated with a fine arts degree in 1982, having received varsity letters in football, hockey, baseball and squash. His baseball skills attracted the attention of the Toronto Blue Jays and he was signed to a professional contract upon graduation from college. Lavery played in the Blue Jays farm system and had a successful stint, however he came to a crossroads in his life and he choose art over baseball. Not content to give up his athletic career, Michael picked up the game of tennis and headed to sunny California.
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In 1984, he moved to Laguna Beach,
California and immediately found the art colony of his dreams. Being a
"plein-air" painter, the climate and ambiance of the
community was a perfect match for the artist. The beautiful vistas,
coves and canyons of the Southern California landscape became his
favorite subjects. Michael has expanded the realm of his subjects to include
the East Coast, Europe and the Hawaiian Islands. Many works are
published as limited edition lithographs, serigraphs and giclees. His
originals and limited editions are now in collections all over the
world.
Michael is known for his environmental awareness and his participation with the Catalina Island Conservancy to date has donated over $50,000 of his art to their annual auctions. His other accomplishments include writing the draft of his first book, "The Future of the Games" and a screenplay entitled "The Art of Baseball". Lavery’s unusual ambidextrous tennis game is at the open class and a full feature story was written in the Los Angeles Times in 1999. Michael also plays music professionally; doing solo acts singing and playing guitar. For the past 12 years, he has been training to be ambidextrous and he has integrated this ability into his painting, writing and tennis playing. His mirror writing skills inspired by the methods of Leonardo Da Vinci, fascinate people from all walks of life.
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