Mike Smith was born in l942 in Portland, Oregon and spent his childhood growing up in Vancouver, Washington and the Puget Sound area. He graduated from the University of Portland with a degree in English Literature. He became a serious full time artist at the age of twenty-five. Over the years, Mike has had more than 75 one-man shows. One of the most interesting was an exhibit in Leipzig, Germany along with a show in the American Consulate.