Question 1

Who is Michael, and why do people care about their work?

Accepted Answer

Michael Namkung is a Portland, Oregon-based artist, poet, father and world champion athlete who has been inducted into the Ultimate Hall of Fame. Serious followers return to his work because of the fusion at its center: the Drawing Gym Workshop treats drawing as a physical discipline, much as sport treats training. The workshop is the basis for two one-man shows, Seeing The Invisible and Good Pain: The Art of Being Hurt, which move between poetry and performance art. His pieces include wall sits, pendulum works and enso drawings, along with the 2010 video Roundabout, made during a residency at North Dakota State University supported by the James Rosenquist Artist Residency. Few artists have brought physical endurance into the drawing studio as directly, which is why critics and teachers tend to mention him. His work has been shown and performed in galleries, universities, festivals and public spaces. Newcomers should expect work that is physical and confrontational before it is contemplative.

Question 2

What tradition or lineage does Michael's work belong to?

Accepted Answer

The available record does not name a specific teacher lineage or spiritual tradition for Michael, so any such claim would be invention. What the record does document is an academic and performance training path: a Master of Fine Arts from San Francisco State University, a Master of Education from the University of California Santa Barbara, and a Master of Science from Portland State University. His practice sits within performance art, where the artist's own body and endurance become the material of the work. His poetry places him within the broader tradition of experimental and performance poetry, with one-man shows as the form that connects the two. The enso pieces draw on the Japanese circle form, a motif long established in East Asian brush practice. His essay 'Drawing for Sport' argues that drawing belongs alongside athletic training, which is the clearest statement of his own framework. Readers looking for a traditional lineage should understand that the Drawing Gym Workshop is the closest thing to an institution his work has produced.

Question 3

Where should a complete newcomer start with Michael's work?

Accepted Answer

A newcomer should start with the Drawing Gym Workshop, since it is the foundation for everything else he presents. From there, the one-man shows Seeing The Invisible and Good Pain: The Art of Being Hurt show how the workshop's methods become poetry and performance art on stage. The 2010 video Roundabout offers a visual introduction to his approach, made during the North Dakota State University residency. For reading, the essay 'Drawing for Sport' gives his clearest explanation of why drawing and athletic training belong together, and 'Where the pencil meets the road' extends the same argument. Those who want to see the physical side of the practice can look at the wall sits and pendulum pieces, which are central to his body of work. His official website, michaelnamkung.com, is the most direct place to find current descriptions of these projects. Starting with the essays before the performances is a reasonable choice for readers who prefer to understand the logic first.

Question 4

What makes Michael distinctive compared to other artists in the same space?

Accepted Answer

Most contemporary drawing practices remain tied to the studio, the sketchbook and the gallery wall, while Michael's work treats the body as the instrument and makes physical duration part of the drawing. The Drawing Gym Workshop frames drawing as a sport with its own training logic, which sets it apart from artists who use athletic imagery as metaphor. His wall sits and pendulum works put the artist's endurance on display, so the drawing is inseparable from the strain behind it. His training is unusually broad, spanning fine arts, education and science degrees, and that range shows up in how he moves between drawing, poetry and performance. He has also worked in teaching contexts that most studio artists never enter, including years of drawing and poetry with teens in addiction recovery and current poetry groups for adults in extreme states of mind. The tradeoff is that his work is less about surface beauty and more about what the body endures, which can make it harder to approach than conventional art.

Question 5

Who is Michael's work NOT for?

Accepted Answer

Michael's work is not well suited to viewers who want quiet, purely decorative drawing or who expect art that stays comfortably at a distance from the body. Good Pain: The Art of Being Hurt is built around pain as subject and material, so people for whom physical suffering is a difficult or triggering theme should approach it carefully. The poetry groups he facilitates with adults in extreme states of mind are a serious, specialized setting rather than a general creative hobby group. Anyone seeking a traditional meditation program should note that although his listed role is Meditation Teacher, the biographical record describes his teaching in drawing, poetry and the Drawing Gym Workshop rather than meditation instruction. Readers who want a long catalog of recordings or a steady stream of published interviews will find the public record thinner than the work itself. The physical elements, including wall sits and endurance-based pieces, reward viewers who are comfortable with intensity and discomfort as part of the experience. Newcomers who want an easy entry point may find the work demanding at first.

Question 6

How can I follow Michael's upcoming events, releases, and travel?

Accepted Answer

Our records do not currently list any upcoming events, tour dates or scheduled appearances for Michael, so there is no verified calendar to offer here. The most reliable place to check is his official website at michaelnamkung.com, which is the primary public presence associated with his work. Because his practice spans galleries, universities, festivals and public spaces, announcements for exhibitions and performances are more likely to appear on institutional or festival listings than on general music or event platforms. Followers interested in the Drawing Gym Workshop should look for workshop announcements on his site, since that is the format through which the method is taught. Anyone planning travel around a specific venue should contact the institution directly to confirm dates, because performance and exhibition schedules change. Checking back periodically is the most dependable approach, since this profile will be updated as new dates are documented.

Question 7

What is Michael's teaching style, and what does a session feel like?

Accepted Answer

The available record describes what Michael teaches more clearly than how a session unfolds, so the details of the room itself are not documented here. His core offering is the Drawing Gym Workshop, a hybrid of art and extreme sports, which means the session is physical as well as visual. Students should expect drawing to be tied to bodily effort, with the same logic that informs his wall sits and pendulum pieces. Over many years he taught drawing and poetry to teens in addiction recovery, a setting that shapes an approach built on attention, repetition and honest encounters with difficulty. He currently facilitates poetry groups for adults experiencing extreme states of mind, which suggests a careful, non-performative atmosphere. Prospective students should not expect a lecture-based format, since his method is rooted in doing. Confirming the format directly through his website is the best way to understand what a particular session involves.

Question 8

What are the recurring themes in Michael's teaching?

Accepted Answer

Pain and endurance run through the work most visibly, from the title Good Pain: The Art of Being Hurt to the physically demanding wall sits and pendulum pieces. A second theme is perception, which the one-man show Seeing The Invisible makes explicit, asking what becomes visible when attention is trained through effort. Sport functions as a model for drawing, as the essay 'Drawing for Sport' makes clear, so discipline, repetition and training appear as recurring principles. The enso pieces return to the circle as a form of completion and motion, linking the physical work to a quieter visual vocabulary. His teaching with teens in addiction recovery and his current work with adults in extreme states of mind bring recovery and the limits of the body into the same frame. Taken together, these themes treat the artist's body and mind as the site where art and survival meet. Students who come expecting purely aesthetic concerns may find the emphasis on hardship more central than they anticipated.

Question 9

Has Michael written essays or talks that people can study independently?

Accepted Answer

Michael has written essays, and two are named in his biography: 'Drawing for Sport' and 'Where the pencil meets the road'. 'Drawing for Sport' is the more direct statement of his framework, arguing that drawing and athletic training share a discipline worth studying together. 'Where the pencil meets the road' extends that idea into the physical act of mark-making, which makes it a useful companion for readers who want to think through the workshop's logic. His 2010 video Roundabout, made during a residency at North Dakota State University, offers a visual study that can be watched independently. The one-man shows Seeing The Invisible and Good Pain: The Art of Being Hurt also function as works that can be engaged with through their published descriptions and documentation. Our records do not list recorded talks or lectures, so the essays and video are the verifiable independent materials. Students who prefer to read before watching should begin with the essays and then move to the video.

Question 10

Do you need any background to follow Michael's teaching?

Accepted Answer

No formal artistic background is required to take part in Michael's teaching, though the Drawing Gym Workshop is designed around physical participation rather than prior technique. Newcomers who have never drawn seriously can approach the work through its physical logic, since the emphasis is on effort and attention rather than finished skill. Some physical readiness helps, because the method draws on the same stamina and body awareness that inform his wall sits and endurance pieces. Readers who want to understand the theory should begin with the essay 'Drawing for Sport', which lays out the reasoning behind the approach without assuming prior knowledge. His poetry work and one-man shows are accessible to general audiences, though Good Pain deals directly with pain and may suit some readers more than others. Participants in the poetry groups for adults in extreme states of mind should expect a serious, supported setting rather than an introductory class. Asking the organizers about the format before attending is the most practical way to gauge whether a session fits your experience.

Michael

Sound Journey

Albums & Releases

Watch & Listen

Infinite Opportunities Await—How to Choose Right

Fear Has a Voice, but Faith Claims Authority

Where to Start with Michael: A Beginner's Guide

Who Is Michael? Life, Work, and Legacy

Questions

Kindred Spirits

Tara Brach

Jack Kornfield

Sharon Salzberg

Joseph Goldstein

Mark Coleman

Sylvia Boorstein

Jon Kabat Zinn

Rick Hanson

There's more where this came from.

Discover More Artists

Find an Event Near You

Add Your Profile