Born in Rhode Island, Michael Andryc moved west in 1970 after graduating from RI Junior College with an Associate of Arts in English and a desire to become a writer, an artist, or both. He received a literary grant in 1978 from the Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation and subsequently had two pieces of literary fiction published in the venerated North American Review. Soon thereafter, he turned to art to better support his nascent family as they lived in the mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico.

 

Of Slavic heritage, Andryc, his parents and four grandparents all worked in New England factories as was customary of many Polish immigrants. His father owned and operated a flower shop while his mother was a homemaker for their family of six children.

 

Although he recounts numerous unsavory experiences in elementary and secondary school, Andryc attributes his pursuit of writing to a creative writing teacher in high school who encouraged him. A self-taught artist, Andryc took his only art course at the junior college where his professor suggested he explore the works of Marc Chagall. Andryc says he took one look at a Chagall and immediately was inspired.

 

During the summer of 2023, the Step Up Gallery in Los Alamos featured more than 60 of Andryc’s acrylic paintings, illustrated manuscripts, and artifacts in a 50-year retrospective entitled “The Hour of the Wolf(Man).” This solo exhibition was the culmination of hundreds of presentations – from outdoor shows in Santa Fe for 27 years, to large in-door festivals, to national juried and local non-juried exhibitions both in and out of state.

 

He resides in Albuquerque where he actively paints, writes, and enjoys nature walks with his dog, Skippy, in the Rio Grande bosque and along the volcanic petroglyph escarpment skirting the city.