Abstract artist Michael Spears calls his work “visual music” as he plays on the mystical dimension of rhythm, melody and oil on canvas. ”I want to visually create what the sound of music accomplishes - an emotional grandness, a magic that connects.” He does so by incorporating the symbolic vigor of black church spirituals. “Listening over and over to a select piece of music while using oil or mixed-media, my resulting abstracts are rooted in intuitive marks and shapes from the spontaneous interpretation of a pieces’ rhythm & melody. I want the viewer to see music.” Born in Bristol, Virginia in 1946, Spears graduated from Washington, DC’s Calvin Coolidge High School and then spent two years at the Corcoran School of Art. He received his BFA magna cum laude from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2009. Spears’ most recent exhibitions include the Athenaeum, Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Arts Club of Washington, and the Delaplaine Arts Center. The artist listens to music and paints just outside of Washington, DC, in Laurel, Maryland.