Soon after this he was awarded “Best in Show” at the Greenwich Art Society’s Flinn exhibition “Emergence,” by Christie Mitchell of the Whitney Museum of American Art. Michael was recently chosen as one of the 50 Memorable Painters of 2015 by Poets and Artists magazine. In 2016 Michael was inducted into New Canaan’s prestigious Silvermine Guild of Artists. In 2014 Michael was awarded a grant and residency with the Vermont Studio Center and upon returning to Connecticut was a featured artist in New Haven’s City Wide Open Studios—an honor repeated in 2015. Earlier this year he painted a mural as part of the 100Gates Project on the Lower East Side and is excited to be returning to Sing for Hope's Pianos for a second year running.