Michael Stack was born in 1947 in New York and raised in California. Upon moving to Arizona in 1970 to work as a ranch caretaker, the beautiful Sonoran Desert inspired him to turn to a serious career as a landscape painter. In the high, rolling grasslands of southern Arizona, where “all you see is sky,” Stack began to paint canvases reflective of the early American Hudson River School painters.
A self-taught artist, Stack focuses on capturing the fleeting moment of shadow, light and color that awakens an emotional response. Often, he chooses to paint the subtle places in nature that many people pass by to remind others of the beauty which surrounds them. His technique of layering paint enables him to recreate the range of color and distance found in his panoramas.
The rugged mountains, arid deserts, and sea of grasslands found across the Southwest hold a special connection for the artist, who has lived in Bisbee, Sonoita, Tucson, Mexico, Wyoming, and currently Taos, NM.
Learn about the Hudson River School painting style in this short video:
