Michael Spiller

My Mother's family has been in New Mexico for quite a while, 100+ years, not bad for a gringo. My Father was a transplant from Massachusetts who came to Albuquerque at the end of World War II because they were offering in-state tuition at UNM for Veterans. My mother was a freshman student at UNM and at the same time as my dad.

20 years later, I was a starting freshman at UNM. I went to 3rd through 6th grades in Santa Fe and then to high school in Las Vegas, NV, where my father had taken a job at the Nevada Test Site. Las Vegas was a bit of a shock for someone who had been brought up as the minority in New Mexico and a Boy Scout. When I returned to Albuquerque, for college, it was the height of the Viet Nam War, and I was of draft age now. I was in the first lottery and drew a high number. So, I stayed in school for a while.

By 1972 I was married and in college studying Fine Arts and poor. So, I went to work framing houses. The 1st marriage didn't last long, 2 years, and at that time I moved to Pecos, NM. I continued to work carpentry or cowboying during the summers and as a Ski Patrolman at Santa Fe's local ski area in the winter. I bought a house outside Espanola, NM. It was a very old adobe that I remodeled and lived in for several years. I moved to Tesuque, NM to be closer to people.

While living and working around Tesuque, I met and married the love of my life. We live and raised two wonderful boys, in the East Mountains of Albuquerque. My wife is an RN in town, and I had a custom home design and building company but now adays, I do small carpentry projects and have a tractor, so I can keep myself as busy as I want to be, and this gives some time to do my art and photographic work.