SCRIMSHAW ARTIST

View all Michael Cohen scrimshaw pieces

An Art Major at U. C. Berkeley, Michael found his first work as a professional artist in the early 70’s when he moved to Bellingham, Washington and became one of the first scrimshanders at the Alaska Silver and Ivory Co. There he specialized in Native American Portraits, Art Nouveau, and nautical scenes, which became his forte. After a few years at the company, he began freelancing, with his work being featured in shops and galleries up and down the West coast, in Hawaii, Alaska, and now in New England.

In addition to scrimshaw, Michael keeps busy with a variety of other projects. He played guitar in a verity of bands, and became a songwriter and guitarist for the group Lip Service, a popular acoustic band that garnered a faithful following and recorded two albums of Michael’s material. He has had several gallery shows of his charcoal and colored pencil work, which featured haunting portraits of stage actresses form the turn of the century. Much of his current artistic energy goes into his self-published comic book ‘Strange Attractors’, which has been appearing bi-monthly for the last three years.