Michael Kareken, a Tacoma, Washington native, moved to Minnesota in 1993 after ten years of living and working in New York.  Since his arrival in Minnesota, Kareken has been the recipient of numerous grants and awards including Arts Midwest, the Minnesota State Arts Board, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Vogelstein Foundation, and a residency fellowship from the Millay Colony for the Arts. Kareken was the 1997 recipient of the Louise Nevelson Award for Art from the American Academy of Arts & Letters, and in 1996 won an award for printmaking from the National Academy of Design.  Most recently, Kareken received the 2000 Bush Foundation Individual Artist Fellowship. He currently teaches painting and drawing at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.