Michael Norman Gute is an award-winning artist working and living in Detroit, Michigan. When asked about his approach to creating work he explained, “I am most interested in the process or the journey it requires to create a work. I practice ignoring the expectations one naturally places on outcome and instead I trust the work to develop on its own. To my excitement and discomfort, my primary role is to listen and carry out the will of the materials.”

Gute’s iconographic approach to subject matter is a decision to activate the viewer. He elaborates in saying, “By allowing the viewer to recognize a series of objects in an otherwise abstract field they begin to build a narrative. I am drawn to images of vessels, bull horns, a bird’s wingspan, clusters of grapes, different parts of the body submerged in water, and other images powerful enough to evoke personal memories and experiences. I know a work is done when it becomes complex enough to suggest more than one story. That is the moment I step back and interpret my own.”

Gute holds a baccalaureate degree in painting and art history from Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University and a master’s in historic preservation and museum administration from Eastern Michigan University. He is currently a candidate for a Master of Business Administration at Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business. He has earned a reputation as a speaker, seeker, successful business person and advocate.