MichaelCW is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice is grounded in research, community, and the material conditions that shape the social world. Spanning sculpture, printmaking, installation, performance, and material studies, his work explores identity, memory, culture, and belonging through a Black queer lens. He is particularly invested in how materials hold history, how objects and environments generate meaning, and how artistic practice can reveal the tensions between visibility and concealment, intimacy and public life, permanence and transformation. MichaelCW received his MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his BFA from Columbia College Chicago. His work has been included in selected group exhibitions at venues such as The Goethe-Institut, Siblings, Acre Gallery, Fulton Street Collective, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In parallel with his studio practice, he has cultivated a substantial teaching practice across Chicago, Boston, and San Juan, where he has designed and led courses in visual art, fashion, mural-making, and material-based experimentation. Across both his artistic and pedagogical work, “Tinker Faerie” approaches making as a means of inquiry, connection, and social engagement.