Michel Desrochers was born at Joly de Lotbiniere, a small village near Quebec City, Canada, on 1 March 1938. After studies at College in Rouyn, Quebec, in 1957 Michel went to Toronto to study drawing and painting part-time, at the Ontario College of Art. During this time, he worked in the Art Department of Simpson-Sears, learning fashion art and graphics and where he remained for the next five years also studying sculpture with Augustin Filipovic (1931-1998), a professor from the Academy of Rome. In 1963, Michel travelled to Europe for a year and on his return to Canada became Art Director in a department store in Quebec City. In 1968 he returned to Toronto, having married, and worked in graphics and advertising on his own account until 1969. Michel then travelled to England, painting full-time in East Anglia and taking part in many exhibitions, including the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition also showing at the Royal Society of Marine Artists in London with one-man shows at Gainsborough's House Gallery, Sudbury, Suffolk; Medici Gallery, London and being invited by Lady Fermoy to have a one-man show at her Fermoy Art Gallery in Kings Lynn, Norfolk. He also had several solo exhibitions at Simon Carter Gallery, Woodbridge and at the then newly established Smiths Row Art Gallery in Bury St Edmund's former Town Hall, both in Suffolk. Many of his works were purchased by collectors, including by the Maritime Museum at Greenwich, London with commissions from Sir Nicholas Cayzer and Sir Edmund Joly de Lotbiniere, both Suffolk residents, with the Borough of Bury St Edmund's commissioned and purchased various topographical works including 'Windmill' (1970). In 1980 he painted watercolours in France of the local scenes around the area of Hérault and was invited to participate in a group show of watercolours of major French artists at Galerie Feille, Clairac, in the Lot et Garonne. His works form part of some major European collections, including by Madame Danielle Mitterand, the wife of the late President of France. In September 1987, Michel, and his wife Marion, returned to Canada and settled in Sooke on Vancouver Island, British Columbia to open a gallery and Michel has shown several times at the annual Fine Art Show in Sooke, and in 1995 a series of paintings were purchased by Pacific Coast Savings for their newly constructed branch.

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Source: Suffolk Artists website