Michael H. Reed was born in Louisiana and raised in Slidell, a suburb of  New Orleans. At an early age, Michael displayed a talent for art,  creating his first comic at around the age of five. As a teen, Michael developed a more serious interest in art,  exploring various media, ranging from graphite to inks to clay sculpture. Michael avoided working in color, preferring black and white, and often working in clay-a medium that he has excelled in since. These interests led Michael to pursue an education in art from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), where he majored in sequential art. It was during that time that Michael found an interest in film, leading to a minor in film and video, as well as fine art. It was during college that he discovered a talent for capturing the essence of an individual on canvas. His portraits are not only captivating but true to the character of the subject.

After graduation, Michael decided to pursue a career in art. Wanting to work sequentially in a genre the masters of the past had worked in, Michael interpreted Homers "The Iliad" into a series of sculptures-The Ilium. The Ilium are comprised of twenty-four sculptures, one for each chapter in the story, which would take him four years to finish. While working on this series, Michael found that he had placed too many restrictions and rules on his art. He started painting portraits of individuals he found interesting, and also abstract pictures of scenes from life, mostly from observations in local bars,  that were drawn on cocktail napkins and later transfered to canvas.

Michael has won numerous awards for painting and sculpture. He paints abstracts in acrylics, portraits in oil and sculpts predominantly in super sculpty clay. he takes commissions and currently lives in Slidell with his family.