Michael Bell

Michael Bell is an American portrait painter, muralist, screenwriter and author. He has painted portraits of John Gotti and actors from Mafia dramas The Sopranos, Goodfellas and A Bronx Tale. Bell is an anti-bullying and Autism activist. In June, 2017 Bell published his memoir "Dual Lives: from the Streets to the Studio". Early life and education At the age of five Bell won the first juried art exhibition he entered. As a young artist he spent a lot of his time in and around New York City studying art with his maternal grandmother, Violet Vallery, a self-taught artist from Lyndhurst, New Jersey, where Bell was raised. Bell has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Lycoming College and a Master of Education in Art Education from Towson University. Career Michael Bell, while becoming one of the most highly regarded art teachers in the US, spent his evenings painting portraits of mob bosses. In 2017 Bell published "DUAL LIVES: from the Streets to the Studio", which chronicles Bell's rise as an educator and portraitist who painted for the likes of John Gotti and actors from The Sopranos.