MICHAEL A. ROOSEVELT was born in Philadelphia, PA. He demonstrated an early interest in fine arts and attended classes at the Philadelphia College of Art while in high school. In the mid-1960s, after a year at Carnegie-Mellon University, he opted to remain in Paris following a summer program there and began study with Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17. He was one of the youngest students that Hayter ever took on, perhaps because they shared an interest in copper engraving. He received a BFA degree in Printmaking and English from Carnegie-Mellon University while returning to Atelier 17 on a regular basis until 1984. Following graduation he took a position as an instructor of printmaking at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, Nova Scotia. That year he had his first solo exhibition at The Print Club in Philadelphia. From the 1970s through 1980s Roosevelt traveled extensively throughout Europe, South America and the Far East, including a two-year stay in Tokyo. In the early 1980s he entered the MFA program in printmaking at the Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA, and subsequently received a masters degree. Following this he had solo exhibitions in Philadelphia, Paris, Rome; Tokyo and Kobe, Japan; Halifax and Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. At Hayter's request, in 1985 he helped to organize an exhibition of the prints of Joseph Hecht (1891-1951) the Polish-born engraver who was influential at the start of Hayter's career as a printmaker. In the early 1990s he completed a one-year course in artistic anatomy taught by Martha Mayer Erlebacher at the University of the Arts, and he also studied at the New York Academy of Fine Arts Graduate School of Figure Study.

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In 1996 he established Ross House Studio, a printmaking studio in heritage buildings that he moved to a site at Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia. In 2005 operations were moved to the artist's home at Belle Cote, across from Margaree Harbour, Nova Scotia and eventually to Vermont.

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Michael Roosevelt's work ranges from large engravings on copper to lithographs and relief prints (both wood engravings and linoleum cuts). The majority of his early work is black and white although recently he has made a quantity of color relief prints. His subjects cover a broad range with a special emphasis on figures, landscapes and architectural themes. Many of the pieces shown here are relief prints of subjects found in New England and the Maritime Provinces.

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Michael Roosevelt was elected as an artist member of the Society of Canadian Artists in 2005. For many years he was an artist member of Visual Arts Nova Scotia, the Nova Scotia Printmakers Association, the Vermont Crafts Council and is listed in Who's Who in American Art™. Also, for many years he was an active participant in the Nova Scotia Studio Rally program and occasionally participates in Vermont's Open Studio program.

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Michael Roosevelt is an Adjunct Professor in the Visual Arts Department, Vermont State University-Lyndon.