Artist Statement

Bud Root-Michels' early work as a commercial illustrator, graphic artist and logo designer employs the same tools as his abstract and realistic paintings today: strong graphic design, balance and weight, color theory, light and dark, yin and yang. 1974-96 he established the Bud Root Commercial Art and Design Studio in Anchorage, Alaska with local and international Fortune 500 clients.

Growing up in Muskegon, Michigan, he had wondrous exposure to nature, but little to art. At age 14, Bud enrolled in a two-year Art Instruction Inc. Illustration and Graphic Design Correspondence Course out of Chicago, Illinois. After four years active duty in the U.S. Navy, he enrolled in Woodbury Art College in Los Angeles, California where he studied color theory, architectural rendering, art history and illustration. In 1986 he taught several art courses at the University of Alaska, Anchorage.

As a commercial artist he was influenced by the strong graphics of N.C. Wyeth's illustrations and Howard Pyles' Brandywine School. While in Japan, he was exposed to Sumi Calligraphy and the subtle colors of Japanese artists. Their harmony and minimalism still intrigue him.

In 1999 Bud moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and worked at the Allan Houser Family Foundry on sculpture waxes. He was inspired by the intent of each curve, crevice and mystery in this master's work and the concept of including the viewer as co-creator. Allan passed in 1994, but Bud experienced him as his mentor. At Philip Haozous's request, Bud sculpted Allan's life sized portrait and participated in casting it in bronze. It was first exhibited at the 2001 Salt Lake Olympics and 2002 in the Native American Smithsonian Museum, Washington D.C. This work deepened Bud's pride in his own Cherokee heritage with which he had always identified.

Bud's paintings and sculptures are in private and corporate collections in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Texas, Washington D.C., and Ireland.