Background
Michael Bell was born on April 10, 1971 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, into the family of Alex and Alma Vallery Bell.
Michael Bell was born on April 10, 1971 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, into the family of Alex and Alma Vallery Bell.
Bell has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Lycoming College and a Master of Education in Art Education from Towson University. He also studying art with his maternal grandmother, Violet Vallery, a self-taught artist from Lyndhurst, New Jersey.
As an emerging artist he spent a lot of his time in and around New York City, studying art with his maternal grandmother. It was during this time period when Bell began exploring life's very personal & psychological issues visually through his paintings. Michael Bell, while becoming one of the most highly regarded art teachers in the United States, spent his evenings painting portraits of mob bosses. Bell just published his memoir, "Dual Lives", which chronicles his rise as an educator and portraitist who painted for the likes of John Gotti and the Sopranos.
Bell is also active in the Visual Journaling movement, giving workshops throughout the United States and donating his paintings for sale by charities. In 2008 Michael wrote a screenplay based on stories behind his paintings. In 2013 Bell was moved by Amanda Todd's tragic story and created a portrait as a tribute to the bullied B.C. teen who killed herself that year. The painting snowballed into an anti-bullying project and YouTube video. In 2013 Bell also painted a series of portraits of Mob Wives' Toni Marie Ricci. In 2015 he painted Dominic Capone III, Al Capone's great nephew. In 2015 Michael was commissioned to paint a portrait of John A. Gotti that featured on the cover of the New York Daily News.
Bell is an anti-domestic violence, anti-bullying and Autism activist.
Michael is married to Lisa Ann Molinaro.
