Michael Morgan

Wassaic Project Summer Artist Residency

September 2026
Wassaic Project, Wassaic, NY

Michael Morgan has been accepted into the Wassaic Project Summer Residency for the month of September 2026.

Curated Exhibition: Deus Ex Bark-ina

August 2026 - September 2026

Michael Morgan will curate a group exhibition centered around dogs at the Ely Center of Contemporary Art in New Haven, CT.

Charles Baskerville Painting Scholarship

May 21st, 2026

Michael Morgan was awarded the Charles Baskerville Painting Scholarship at the Cornell College of Art, Architecture, and Planning 2026 Commencement Ceremony.

This scholarship was established by Charles Baskerville (1896–1994), Cornell class of 1919, to assist Cornell students in the field of painting. It is awarded annually to graduating B.F.A. or M.F.A. students.

MFA Thesis Published on Cornell University’s eCommons

May 20th, 2026

Michael Morgan’s 105-page MFA thesis, The Teacher’s Pet, The Jester, and the Mourner, is now available through Cornell University’s eCommons. The thesis was written in conjunction with his MFA thesis exhibition, Long Island Trash, for the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Visual Arts at Cornell University.

Cornell M.F.A. ’26 Group Show: I Happen to be Rock

May 8th, 2026 - May 31st, 2026
Ortega y Gasset Projects, 363 3rd Ave., Brooklyn, NY

Across painting, sculpture, printmaking, installation, writing, and expanded material practices, the exhibition gathers seven artists whose work insists on persistence, relation, transformation, and becoming. The title suggests both contingency and endurance; something accidental and elemental, arrived at and borne through. It evokes a condition of having taken form under pressure, of becoming matter, presence, witness.

Cornell M.F.A. ’26 Artist Presentations

May 4th, 2026
Milstein Auditorium, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Graduating students in the M.F.A. in Creative Visual Arts program will each present ten-minute lectures about their thesis work and art practice to the community. Michael Morgan presented his MFA thesis work during the Cornell M.F.A. ’26 Artist Presentations at Milstein Auditorium.

dreaming of a young forest

May 2nd, 2026
Birding Man Festival, Ramble on (Farm), Trumansburg

Michael Morgan’s work was included in Dreaming of a Young Forest at Birding Man in Trumansburg, NY. Juried and curated by Sheila Novak.

Long Island Trash Review

April 14th, 2026

Read a review of Michael Morgan’s MFA thesis exhibition, Long Island Trash, written by Melissa Moon for the Cornell Daily Sun.

Solo Exhibition: Long Island Trash

April 13th, 2026 - April 17th, 2026
Olive Tjaden Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Long Island Trash is Michael Morgan’s M.F.A. thesis exhibition, presenting a body of oil paintings developed during his final year at Cornell. The work moves between cartoon realism and more rendered figuration, using theatrical backdrops, vibrant color, and close attention to detail to explore vulnerability, consumerism, decay, and queer intimacy. As framed in a Cornell Daily Sun review, the exhibition is marked by “radical authenticity,” especially in its commitment to body diversity, emotional honesty, and lived experience.

Art Center Sarasota’s Art of the Spectacle

March 5th, 2026 - April 18th, 2026
Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, FL

Michael Morgan’s work was included in group exhibition, Art of the Spectacle, at Art Center Sarasota.

Group Exhibition: A Book is a Conversation with a Stranger in the Future

February 20th, 2026 - March 5th, 2026
Bibliowicz Family Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

What is a book, exactly? Bookmaker and artist, Dayanita Singh, writes that “a book is a conversation with a stranger in the future.” In other words, a book is not simply a medium to convey information, but rather a conduit for human connection, an enduring form that brings people together in ways both real and imaginary. Like Singh, we contend that a book is a relational tool, extending far beyond the boundaries of the material object itself. A book is a meeting place, containing multiple spaces in time, images, words, and whole pages waiting to be activated.

Group Exhibition: Before 3I / ATLAS Arrives

October 15th, 2025 - October 23rd, 2025

The M.F.A. in Creative Visual Arts ’26 and ’27 artists gather their signals — painting, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, film, and socially engaged gestures — into a group show exploring labor, ritual, reciprocity, decomposition, displacement, LGBTQA+, and more. The exhibition takes its name from 3I Atlas, a rare interstellar object rumored to be a spacecraft. In that fleeting speculation, the show finds its mood: porous, searching, attuned to transmissions not yet understood.

The Cornell Daily Sun Features Magnum O-Pspsps

October 6th, 2025

Melissa Moon features Magnum O-Pspsps in The Cornell Daily Sun, describing the exhibition as a feline devotional and examining its blend of humor, sincerity, and artist-cat devotion.

Old Masters Oil Painting Workshop at Roberson Museum

September 26th, 2025 - October 17th, 2025
Roberson Museum, Binghamton, NY

Michael Morgan taught a four-week Old Masters Oil Painting workshop at the Roberson Museum.

Hyperallergic Features Magnum O-Pspsps

September 23rd, 2025

Aaron Short features Magnum O-Pspsps in Hyperallergic. The article traces the exhibition’s mix of art history, humor, grief, and artist-cat devotion, from Louis Wain and The Pussycat Princess to works by more than 40 contemporary artists, framing the show as both playful tribute and unexpectedly sincere feline devotional.

Art Spiel Features Magnum O-Pspsps

September 17th, 2025

Etty Yaniv interviewed Michael Morgan and Elina Ansary for Art Spiel about Magnum O-Pspsps. The feature discusses the show’s origins, its mix of Cornell-affiliated and invited artists, and the process of turning a joke about cats into an unexpectedly sincere curatorial framework.

Curated Exhibition: Magnum O-Pspsps

September 15th, 2025 - September 25th, 2025
Olive Tjaden Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Magnum O-pspsps is an expansive exhibition devoted to cats (and, in limited solidarity, dogs). It is an unapologetic celebration of our furry companions as muses, metaphors, and comfort objects. A playful nod to the Latin phrase magnum opus, this show avows that, very often, an artist’s greatest work…is their cat.

Including works by: Kiki Smith, Pamela Sneed, Leeza & Katya Meksin, Eric Hibit, Dona Nelson, Joanna Malinowska, Leslie Brack, George Boorujy, Julianne Hunter, Steve Keister, Kate Clark, Will Hutnick, Erika Ranee, Catherine Haggarty, Lisa Lebofsky, Emily Henretta, JJ Manford, Emily Weiskopf, Jan Baracz, Terry Plater, Onome Olotu, Tatiana Tatum, a/d, Noel Neri, Maximilliana Mango, Katherine Twomey, Michael Morgan, Elina Ansary, Marissa Cote, Rebekah Church, Lesley Finn, John O’Donnell, Brittany House, Karen Harrod, Zoe Papini, Arden Conine, Jenny Pope, Sheila Novak, Annamariah Knox, Carla Liesching, Kate Finneran, Bella Barhorst, Anda Tanaka, Melanie Vote, and Juan Hinojosa.

Curated by Michael Morgan (M.F.A. ’26) and Elina Ansary (M.F.A. ’25).

LBIF’s 40 Under 40

July 19th, 2025 - August 10th, 2025
Long Beach Island Foundation, Long Beach, NJ

Group exhibition juried by Jennie Goldstein, The Jennifer Rubio Associate Curator of the Collection at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC.

Cooperstown Art Association’s 90th Annual National Juried Exhibition

July 12th, 2025 - August 15th, 2025
Cooperstown Art Association, Cooperstown, NY

Michael Morgan’s work was included in the 90th Annual National Juried Art Exhibition at Cooperstown Art Association. The 90th Annual National is a juried art exhibition organized by the Cooperstown Art Association and open to all fine artists in the country. This year, we are proud to have 14 states and 106 individual artists represented in our National Exhibition. Our 2025 juror of selection & awards, Heather Caufield, selected 139 entries from across the United States to create an eclectic and stimulating show, which encompasses a wide range of media including drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.

ECoCA’s FLEX://

June 20th, 2025 - August 31st, 2025
Ely Center of Contemporary Art, Digital Grace

The Ely Center of Contemporary Art is proud to present FLEX://, curated by JLS Gangwisch. Best viewed on a computer. To celebrate Pride 2025 the Ely Center of Contemporary Art and the New Haven Pride Center partner to launch MUSCLE, an intermedia exhibition of artworks by local and regional artists featuring the vitality of the LGBTQIA+ community.

FLEX:// is the sister exhibition of MUSCLE and is the first exhibition in a relaunch of Digital Grace, the Ely Center’s online exhibition space.

Featuring the work of Joseph Annino, Kelsey Archbold, Finley Doyle, Ana Maria Farina, Diego Horisberger, David Kuehler, Kayce Lewandowski, Caroline McAuliffe, Michael Morgan, Cate Solari, Matthew Towers and Yves François Wilson.

ECoCA’s Muscle

June 20th, 2025 - July 18th, 2025
Ely Center of Contemporary Art & The New Haven Pride Center

The Ely Center of Contemporary Art is proud to present MUSCLE, curated by JLS Gangwisch. To celebrate Pride 2025 the Ely Center for Contemporary Arts and the New Haven Pride Center partner to launch MUSCLE, an intermedia exhibition of artworks by local and regional artists featuring the vitality of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Solo Exhibition: Bear Season

June 13th, 2025 - June 27th, 2025
Experimental Gallery, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

Over the past year, Michael Morgan (M.F.A. ’26) has been painting and sculpting queer men who embody the “bear” archetype across several distinct series. Bear Season gathers those pieces for the first time and pushes the inquiry further with new portraits and collages. Together the works celebrate the archetype’s allure while asking what’s gained, and lost, when queer bodies are sorted into such labels.

Roberson Museum’s Regional Art Exhibition

May 24th, 2025 - September 7th, 2025
The Roberson Museum, Binghamton, NY

Established in 1957, Roberson Museum’s Regional Art Exhibition celebrates the talent of artists living in the Southern Tier, Central New York, and Northern Pennsylvania. Over the decades, this exhibition has featured thousands of works in diverse media, including drawing, painting, sculpture, and photography. We are excited to continue this tradition with a juried showcase that brings these exceptional works to the community.

Cornell Council for the Arts Individual Grant

May 21st, 2025

Michael Morgan received an Individual Grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts in support of a sculpture project.

Cornell Daily Sun interviews Michael Morgan

March 7th, 2025

Melissa Moon interviews Michael Morgan for The Cornell Daily Sun’s Student Artist Spotlight series. The article was featured both digitally and in-print.