10/09/2026
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT!
Born an identical twin, Michael Joseph has always been spatially aware. From an early age he was competent at drawing and using his hands to make things from all sorts of materials. At school in the 1960’s, he was runner-up in a national car design competition with Vauxhall. His entry was a hatchback before they had been invented. He became an engineering apprentice at Rolls-Royce Aero Engines in Derby where his original and creative thinking led to him winning a competition, the prize for which was a Private Pilots Licence. Learning to fly was a skill he found easy to master with his ability to judge the three- dimensional concepts of speed, height and vectors.
In 1971 he joined British Airways as a trainee airline pilot at Hamble. It was as a distraction from the intensive training that he first took up oil painting. This soon led to exhibitions in London with the Guild of Aviation Artists, where he won several awards including the Aviation Painting of the Year Award in 1987. He was elected a Full Member and was the Chairman for two years. His paintings were bought by British Aerospace, Fokker, the RAF Museum at Hendon, British Caledonian Airways and Air Lingus. He also took pleasure in painting and exhibiting locally in Sussex where he could broaden his subjects and artistic ideas.
See Michael’s work at The Altered States Sculpture Exhibition, on display at Shaw House and FREE to view. Open every day until 27th September 2026, 11am – 4pm. Shaw House is also open, entry fees to visit inside the house apply. The café and grounds are free to enter.
